B.C. promised a ‘Silver Alert’ system for missing seniors with dementia. Where is it?

It’s been a decade since his father disappeared, but Sam Noh says the sting of not knowing what happened to a loved one never goes away.

Shin Noh, 64, has Alzheimer’s disease and was last seen by his wife leaving for a walk in Coquitlam in September 2013. Two other people who knew him are said to have spotted him as well, but didn’t know he was missing, and didn’t intervene.

His father has never returned, spurring Noh to advocate for the creation of a ‘Silver Alert’ system that would alert communities to the disappearance of a senior, particularly one with dementia. He co-founded the group, BC Silver Alert.

“It’s important to me because I want to save other future families the devastation and grief of what we went through,” Noh told Global News on Monday.

“It’s important to quickly inform the public as soon as possible if you want to find a missing person with dementia alive.”

2:19 What is a Silver Alert?

In 2014, his efforts helped prompt NDP Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Selina Robinson to introduce a private member’s bill that would have created such a system — the Silver Alert Act — but the legislation fell flat.

Robinson is now the minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.

Six years later, the B.C. NDP promised to a Silver Alert system when it formed government, commanding Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth to oversee its development in his 2020 mandate letter.

Three years later, no such promise has been realized and it’s unclear what steps are being taken to deliver on it.

“The Silver Alert system is something that we have been looking at. There are a number of challenges with it and the alerting system in terms of how something would be put in place, and how to be able to put it into a very, very small area,” Farnworth said, asked by Global News at an unrelated press conference on Tuesday.

“The focus has been very much to date on the alert system in terms of natural disasters such as fire and floods. We are still interested in the Silver Alert system.”

Farnworth said a particular challenge — one that has been raised by other politicians in B.C. — is that too many alerts lead to an overall desensitization to them. Eventually, people ignore them.

“That being said, there are advances in technology that may assist in terms of individuals being able to keep better track of where an individual is,” he said.

“It’s something that we’re still concerned about, something that we still would like to see in place, but if it’s going to be implemented it would have to be implemented right so that it works.”

1:50 Delta family pushes for senior alert after death of grandfather

Attention to the Silver Alert system cause has been renewed in the aftermath of a Coquitlam senior’s disappearance on July 10. Lifang Cheng, 69, has Alzheimer’s disease and wandered off during a morning walk in Coquitlam.

She was found five days later, after an extensive search of Burke Mountain and Minnekhada Regional Park, in the backyard of residents Marjorie and Ed Kurucz. They believe she used an old yogurt container she found to scoop water to drink, and a stick she picked up to help her walk.

The couple said she was in good health and appeared to be in good spirits, while her son, Frank Zhang, was overcome with joy and relief.

“I was so thankful to all the volunteers, all the rescue forces trying to get hold of her. But after a massive search with no information, I was mentally prepared for her not coming back forever,” he told Global News.

“I told her regularly, ‘Don’t walk too far, don’t wander off’.”

2:01 B.C. search and rescue teams to get training to handle missing people with dementia

Al Hurley of Coquitlam Search and Rescue said the case is one that supports the pairing of seniors with dementia or other cognitive impairments with devices that track them in case they get lost. Many missing folks with dementia will not seek help from strangers, he explained, or move in patterns that make sense to others.

“Definitely if they can find some sort of system or tracking device that will work that notifies them, and the authorities that their loved ones have gone missing,” Hurley advised. “Call us early .”

Dementia is not a disease, but rather a general term for loss of memory, language, problem-solving and other cognitive abilities that interfere with everyday life. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the Alzheimer Society of British Columbia and BC Search and Rescue Association (BCSARA), an average of 40 searches take place in B.C. each year for people with dementia. The “occurrence of dementia” in British Columbians is also expected to increase by more than 200 per cent over the next three decades, they add.

Both organizations have recently inked a new partnership that will see search and rescue teams receive training on best practices for communicating with people living with dementia. When found, they will also refer the missing people, along with their family and friends, to the Alzheimer Society of B.C. for information and resources that will help reduce the chances of a reoccurrence.

2:15 Blind Paralympian and guide dog locate missing senior

Noh, meanwhile, said he hasn’t heard back on any follow-up he’s done with the B.C. government on the promised Silver Alert system, although a jurisdictional review of such a system is apparently underway.

“I’ve asked for transparency, details of this jurisdictional review. There’s been very little progress, there’s been a lot of rhetoric,” he said.

“It’s time to take action. I’ve heard the same thing before from our government — they’re still working on it. But so much time has passed that British Columbians deserve some transparency, and an update on the progress.”

Noh is aware that details need to be hammered out, including who would qualify for a Silver Alert, how long they would need to be missing for, and how the alerts could be targeted by location. With the importance of the system established, however, and a promise that’s been made, he’s urging the province to take proactive steps before someone else goes missing.