Tech Supports L.A. Found Initiative to Reduce Wandering Risk

L.A. Found, a safety initiative of the Los Angeles County Aging and Disabilities Department (AD), is using new GPS smartwatches to reduce the risk of wandering for people with Alzheimer’s, autism, dementia or other cognitive conditions.

The initiative launched in 2018, enabling access to radio frequency bracelets from the nonprofit organization Project Lifesaver. About 60 percent of U.S. individuals with some form of dementia will wander away from their homes or care facilities, according to an estimate from the Alzheimer's Association.

County leaders announced the program’s new technology, the Theora Care GPS smartwatch, on Oct. 15. Its features enable real-time location tracking, geofencing alerts and more.
The L.A. Found program started after the disappearance of Nancy Paulikas in 2016; she was a 55-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s who wandered away from her family during a museum trip. Her remains were found more than two years later. County supervisors convened a Bring Our Loved Ones Home Task Force, which evolved into a partnership between the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and AD known as L.A. Found, according to AD’s Interim Director Maral Karaccusian. The program includes wearable tracking technology and coordinated rapid response protocols to locate individuals who wander.

“At its heart, it's about safety, dignity and peace of mind — ensuring families never have to face the fear alone,” Karaccusian said.

The county’s size makes the challenge of finding missing people more complex. It has the largest population of any county in the U.S. and is one of the largest geographically with more than 4,000 square miles. There are 88 cities within the county and numerous law enforcement agencies. Navigating this complex landscape involves an “ongoing strategy,” Karaccusian said.

L.A. Found’s work has yielded lessons on engagement, and now, the county has funded an initiative within its sheriff’s department — specifically, its Mental Evaluation Teams (MET) unit — to train law enforcement. This creates a train-the-trainer style model, akin to that of the Digital Navigator program, as officials become community ambassadors in a systemic way. Since L.A. Found’s establishment, 29 people have been safely located, the interim director said.

The new devices were purchased with federal grant funding and allocated monies from the Family Caregiver Support Program, under Title IIIE of the Older Americans Act. To be eligible for this wearable technology, a person must be a Los Angeles County resident, impacted by a cognitive impairment, and mobile to the point that they may be able to wander.

The new technology lets caregivers create “safe zones,” triggering alerts when someone wearing the bracelet leaves that designated safe zone, per Karaccusian. The device also has an SOS button the wearer can use to alert their caregiver if help is needed. Caregivers can even talk to wearers through the GPS watch.

Technology supports county efforts to find missing people, a need that is heightened in crisis events like wildfire response, a common risk in the region. Part of the challenge is organizing response across different jurisdictions for a county of 10 million residents — but tech can enable more targeted and proactive outreach, Karaccusian said.

A device’s location data is only accessible to authorized caregivers, select county staff, and trained Sheriff's Department's MET members, and only to find a missing person, she said. This data is confidential and is never shared or used for other purposes.

Notably, the L.A. Found program is something that people voluntarily participate in for safety purposes. AD sometimes faces challenges in terms of data sharing and confidentiality because of the nature of the agency’s services, Karaccusian said, so letting people make the choice to opt in helps enable the department to implement technology solutions.

L.A. Found is growing and modernizing, Karaccusian said, with a focus on expanded enrollment, improved case management, and the evaluation of new technologies. The goal is to coordinate with the county’s 88 cities, and to leverage the brainpower of its universities, she said.

“Within our department, I think there’s great opportunity,” Karaccusian said.

While there was significant federal funding available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and the American Rescue Plan Act, education is now a key component of building and sustaining investment in technology improvements for older adults and people with disabilities. Including expertise from people with lived experience helps connect those dots, Karaccusian said. Her goal is to “make this human” to ensure AD is a government entity that people can and will turn to for support, especially as AD serves what she describes as a growing population as people age.

“You’re not a wanderer until you’re a wanderer,” Karaccusian said.