Wandering: What kind of warning system works?

My husband took two walks through our neighborhood in the middle of the night wearing his underwear and bare feet. I got a Ring camera for both doors. The front door I placed the camera inside the front door so when he walks into the field of the camera while it is “armed / away” I have a very loud ring on my phone. I keep the phone by my bedside all night. Our back door goes int the garage so i put the camera in the garage facing the door (didn’t have a place to plug it in inside the door.). Anyway…. I have a phone app that runs it all and it’s all good until a hurricane comes through and takes out our power / WiFi. Didn’t sleep very well those nights. So far….. hubby has only wandered out in the night / early morning so I disarm the system during the day but you can set it up as needed. Hope this helps.

For my mother-in-law who would sometimes get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or once, in the early morning, to wander outside, I bought the Early-Alert Bed Alarm System by Lunderg (available on their website, Amazon, and eBay, among other places). It's a pad you place under the sheet over the mattress, connected wirelessly to a monitor that beeps (two volume levels) when the person intents to get out of bed. There is another one that doesn't alert so fast for people who move a lot in their sleep. There is also one for armchairs. They even sell a package of the bed and armcharir alarm together. You can connect up to three pads to one monitor. It has served us very well, giving us the necessary time to go to her side when she tries to get out of bed in the middle of the night.
On the Lunderg website: https://lunderg.com/bed-alarm/.

My hubby has wandered off a few times. We had to do several things to protect him as he was a marathon runner. (He ran three 5K's in 2023. I can not catch him!)
1. We installed a security system with cameras and all windows/doors have alarms. Whenever he tries to open a window, it loudly announces the room, so we quickly know where to go. It also announces which door is open.
2. We installed door locks that have to have a key to open from the inside. The key is always in our pocket because he figured out key hiding places near doors. The doors are ALWAYS locked, even when visitors are here. If a visitor is staying for a long visit, I give them a key to keep in their pocket. My hubby constantly tries to open the doors, but so far the locks have held up and protected him.
3. We bought a split screen audio/video baby monitor so that he can have some free wandering in the house without being constantly followed. This gives me some time to breathe and also gives the caregiver a little break while allowing him some independence. (This came from Amazon and has two cameras to place in his most frequent rooms.)
4. I have a different bell, or a wood decoration or something different hanging on the inside of each door to give me an idea when he goes into other rooms where the cameras are not present.
5. Our security system also has cameras in some rooms and outside all exits with alerts to anyone coming or going. I do not give this out to a caregiver just to protect our privacy because these run 24/7 and I can check the cameras on my phone when I am here or away. This also keeps helpers on task because it holds them accountable knowing I can check on them at any moment. It has a recording feature that can be used if necessary.
6. We do have bed alarms, but he gets up several times a night and it scared him, so at this point we are not using this since we are still in the same room. The small bell on the inside of the door wakes me up if I don't hear him when he gets out of bed.
7. I have placed childproof door knobs on door to rooms where I don't want him to go. This was hard and sad, but it helped eliminate extra picking up. Plus sometimes he is looking for a toilet and he hallucinates that he is seeing one when it it a chair or a garbage can or.......I am a professional at cleaning up his contributions to inappropriate places! 😀.
My sweet hubby has told others that he now lives in a prison. This makes me feel very bad, but I just remind myself that this is for his protection, and if he did have to be in a memory care facility, he would have many of the same precautions in place as well. This is not an easy path in life to navigate, but together we can all figure out how to make it better for our loved ones and possible for each of us to complete this seemingly impossible journey with the greatest love for another person. May God Bless each of you!
Jan

Many thanks.

Many thanks

We also have cameras, Google's Nest cameras for which one can activate notifications on one's phone, and the alarm system's cameras and sensors on doors and windows, for which I also have notifications on my phone.

I have mentioned this here before. My husband started "sun downing", wandering off in the middle of the night. I live on 22 acres out in the woods.(an elderly neighbor disappeared when she got up at night and was never found) One morning I woke up to find him missing. I found him 1/4 of a mile from our house where he had fallen and was laying face down in the dirt. He had hypothermia and the ambulance took him to the emergency room.
I started giving him 10 mg of melatonin at 4 pm and another 10 mg of melatonin at 9pm. He never sun downed again except for one time when my son didn't give him the first dose until 6pm.
Yesterday I read that it is believed that melatonin can help prevent strokes. I don't think there are many problems with it except drowsiness.

We use the melatonin in a similar fashion as well. I have also given it to him when he becomes very anxious (sometimes as early as 10 AM). I do think the LBD research team needs to research and recommend this as it works much better for my sweet hubby than any prescription medication for anxiety.
Jan

Perhaps it seems just too simple. I tried it on my own with no advise. Though I am an RN.

I totally agree.....I read it in another post here in Mayo Clinic Connect.....a doctor has suggested it but for bedtime only. I have even given a smaller dose (½ of a 5mg fast dissolve tablet) in the middle of the night when he wakes up anxious or scared. It has worked very well almost every time.