OLYMPIA — The Washington State Patrol will send out special alerts statewide when mentally impaired seniors go missing, under a new law signed Wednesday.
Starting in August, when a person who is 60 or older and diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s goes missing, a “Silver Alert” will be issued through the agency’s Endangered Missing Person Advisory system.
Information will be posted on freeway signs, included in highway advisory radio messages and in some cases shared with local media outlets.
The process will be similar to the Amber Alert system for abducted children except the emergency broadcast system will not be activated for missing adults as it is for children.
The signing of House Bill 1021 by Gov. Jay Inslee culminates several years of legislative efforts. It passed 43-0 in the Senate and 88-4 in the House.
“It is so simple. It is about compassion and mercy and responsibility,” said Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, the bill’s sponsor and a member of the Washington State Council on Aging.
Sixty percent of seniors with dementia will wander at some point, she said. “We just want to give them a fighting chance,” she said.
Patrick O’Neil became a vocal supporter after his mother, who lived in Everett and was in the early stage of dementia, went missing and died in 2014.
Ethel O’Neil, 89, disappeared July 16, 2014, and was found 28 days later in her car off a private road near Lake Stevens. She’d stopped twice to ask for directions.
“It may have been different had the Silver Alert been in place like other states. She may have been found,” he said. “Anything that would get (information) out there would be important. It took six days to get information out on my mom.”
Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, who sponsored a Senate bill similar to the House legislation, called the law a “huge accomplishment” though it doesn’t go quite as far as she wanted. Her bill had no age restriction for triggering an alert.
“We know that dementia affects people differently,” she said. “The propensity to wander and get confused starts happening much earlier than 60 for some people.”
Bailey also regretted that the bill didn’t pass a year ago.
“It might have made a difference” for Ethel O’Neil, she said.
Washington has the “Endangered Missing Person Advisory Plan” for people believed to be in danger because of age, health or mental or physical disability. When a person goes missing, the state patrol can issue alerts that get posted on highway reader boards and to those who’ve signed up for alerts.
The new law directs Silver Alert be added to messages related to a person is 60 or older and battling dementia. Appleton said Washington will be the 42nd state with a Silver Alert system.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com
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