The Need for Wander Alarms at Nursing Homes

Most of the articles in our security blog are centered on the topic of keeping criminals out of your home or business with the use of burglar alarms, access control, video surveillance, and more.

Today, we’d like to reverse that process and talk about keeping people in—but these folks are precious assets instead of unwanted guests.

Pictured above is one type of wander alarm--affixed to a door.

With shrinking budgets leading to lower staffing corps in many managed care facilities, it has never been more important to consider wander alarms.

And even with adequate staffing, human error can sometimes come into play. Staff can become distracted by a phone call, for instance, and a patient could start to exit the supervised area.

Wander alarms help contain many types of patients to designated areas in various facilities, but very often they are used with elderly residents of nursing homes and related facilities who may suffer from dementia.

It is very important that these people remain in a certain area where they can be safely monitored by the many different types of wander alarms, as well as staff of course, and we’ll talk about a few in this piece today.

A wireless wander alarm allows you to be notified when a targeted door is opened. A device is actually installed on the door and a chime sounds at a receiver which can be located a significant distance away.

Some manufacturers provide features such as identification of the actual patient who has breached the boundary. This is made possible due to a bracelet or ankle tag that they wear.

These bracelets and ankle tags can also work in conjunction with door devices that emit a field. When the patient who is wearing one enters the field, two actions can take place. If the door is open, an alarm will sound which in turn alerts staff.

If the door is shut at the time the patient approaches, the door will automatically lock and also alarm in some cases.

Motion detectors, which are commonly used with burglar alarm systems, can also be used as a part of your wander alarm system.

So as you can see, there are many ways to keep our revered seniors safe in nursing home settings.

Talk to your security integrator about installing a wander alarm at your facility today.

Thanks for spending some time with us.