Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program Reauthorization of 2008

I would first like to thank the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Bobby Scott, for the time. And I thank him for making sure that this bill come to the floor tonight.

I rise in strong support of my bill, H.R. 6503, the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program Reauthorization Act. The Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program is a Department of Justice program that helps local communities and law enforcement officials quickly identify persons with Alzheimer's disease who wander or who are missing and reunite them with their families.

Since its inception more than 10 years ago, this program has funded a national registry of more than 172,000 individuals at risk of wandering and has reunited over 12,000 wanderers with their families.

It is a highly successful program whereby 88 percent of registrants who wander are found within the first 4 hours of being reported missing. A total of 1,288 wandering incidents were reported to the program in 2007. The program has a 98 percent success rate in recovering enrollees who are reported missing.

There also are technology-based options to address wandering that should be considered for funding under the Missing Alzheimer's Patient Program. For example, personalized wristbands that emit a tracking signal can be used to locate wanderers. These wristbands, when combined with specially trained search and rescue teams, can reduce search times from hours and days to minutes.

Congress originally authorized $900,000 in appropriations for the Missing Alzheimer's Patient Program for 3 years, that is 1996 through 1998, but never reauthorized or updated the program. Since then, the program has continued to receive funding on a year-to-year basis, but funding has remained virtually flat since its inception.

H.R. 6503 reauthorizes updates and expands the Missing Alzheimer's Patient Program. The program authorizes up to $5 million per year in appropriations for fiscal years 2009 through 2015, a modest increase over the current appropriation of $1 million in fiscal year 2008.

The bill expands the program so as to allow the Department of Justice to award multiple competitive grants to nonprofit organizations. Preference would be given to national nonprofit organizations that have a direct link to patients and families of patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Finally, the bill specifies that the program will be operated under the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance. Currently, the program is operated under the Office of Juvenile Justice, which is obviously not the most appropriate agency for a program serving the elderly.

H.R. 6503 has 25 bipartisan cosponsors, including the cochairs of the Congressional Alzheimer's Task Force, Congressmen Edward Markey and Christopher Smith. The bill is also supported by the Alzheimer's Foundation of America and Project Lifesaver.

Furthermore, on May 14, a diverse group of over 85 national State and local organizations sent a letter to the members of the House Judiciary Committee supporting this approach to the reauthorization of the Missing Alzheimer's Patient Program.

The Missing Alzheimer's Patient Program is a critical resource for first responders. It saves law enforcement officials valuable time, allowing them to focus on other national and local security concerns. It is critical that we reauthorize and expand this small but effective program.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6503. And with that, I thank all of those who have worked to bring this bill to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, thank you for your leadership in bringing this bill to the floor. I support H.R. 6503, to amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to reauthorize the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Thousands of vulnerable older adults go missing each year as a result of dementia, diminished capacity, foul play or other unusual circumstances. The Alzheimer's Foundation of America estimates that over five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and that 60 percent of these are likely to wander from their homes. Alzheimers diseases and other dementia related illnesses often leave their victims disoriented and confused and unable to find their way home. According to the Alzheimers Association, up to 50 of wanderers risk serious illness, injury or death if not found within 24 hours. The problem can be exacerbated greatly by national disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, that can, in a matter of hours, increase the number of missing persons by the thousands.

H.R. 6503 reauthorizes the existing Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program. The bill authorizes $5 million for each fiscal year through 2015 for competitive grants to nonprofit organizations. The money may be used to pay for the ``costs of planning, designing, establishing, and operating locally based, proactive programs to protect and locate missing patients with Alzheimers disease and related dementias and other missing elderly individuals.'' The bill states a preference for ``national nonprofit organizations that have a direct line to patients, and families of patients, with Alzheimers disease and related dementias.''

When I consider the necessity of this bill, I am reminded about the time when I was personally called upon by a constituent in the 18th Congressional District in Texas. A few years back, the family of Mr. Sammy Kirk, enlisted my help in searching for Kirk. Mr. Kirk was an elderly man, suffering from Alzheimers and he had wandered away from his family in Houston. He was lost. His family called me to help search for him. I, along with his family, searched many hours and many days. In total, I searched for three days for Mr. Kirk. Finally, Mr. Sammy Kirk was found. He was found and he was dead. He wandered many miles away from his family and was found dead along the bayou. It would have been so much easier, and his life could have been spared if there was an electronic monitoring service that could have been used to help keep Mr. Kirk close to his and family and it would have certainly aided in our search for Mr. Kirk. An innocent, yet vulnerable, life could have been saved. This bill is necessary and I encourage my colleagues to support it.

Madam Speaker, thank you for your leadership in bringing this bill to the floor. I support H.R. 6503, to amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to reauthorize the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Thousands of vulnerable older adults go missing each year as a result of dementia, diminished capacity, foul play or other unusual circumstances. The Alzheimer's Foundation of America estimates that over 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and that 60 percent of these are likely to wander from their homes. Alzheimers diseases and other dementia related illnesses often leave their victims disoriented and confused and unable to find their way home. According to the Alzheimers Association, up to 50 of wanderers risk serious illness, injury or death if not found within 24 hours. The problem can be exacerbated greatly by national disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, that can, in a matter of hours, increase the number of missing persons by the thousands.

H.R. 6503 reauthorizes the existing Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program. The bill authorizes $5 million for each fiscal year through 2015 for competitive grants to nonprofit organizations. The money may be used to pay for the ``costs of planning, designing, establishing, and operating locally based, proactive programs to protect and locate missing patients with Alzheimers disease and related dementias and other missing elderly individuals.'' The bill states a preference for ``national nonprofit organizations that have a direct line to patients, and families of patients, with Alzheimers disease and related dementias.''

When I consider the necessity of this bill, I am reminded about the time when I was personally called upon by a constituent in the 18th Congressional District in Texas. A few years back, the family of Mr. Sammy Kirk, enlisted my help in searching for Mr. Kirk. Mr. Kirk was an elderly man, suffering from Alzheimers and he had wandered away from his family in Houston. He was lost. His family called me to help search for him. I, along with his family, searched many hours and many days. In total, I searched for 3 days for Mr. Kirk. Finally, Mr. Sammy Kirk was found. He was found and he was dead. He wandered many miles away from his family and was found dead along the bayou. It would have been so much easier, and his life could have been spared if there was an electronic monitoring service that could have been used to help keep Mr. Kirk close to his family and it would have certainly aided in our search for Mr. Kirk. An innocent, yet vulnerable, life could have been saved. This bill is necessary and I encourage my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana for allowing me to participate in this particular bill to help not only our seniors but everyone who is afflicted, the 5 million Americans who suffer from Alzheimer's disease or dementia. Of these, nearly 3 million, or 60 percent, will become lost from their families or loved ones or caretakers. If not found within 24 hours, up to half will become seriously injured or die.

H.R. 6503, the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program, will increase the chance of locating missing persons suffering from this disease within the critical first 24 hours. H.R. 6503 authorizes funds for grants for nonprofit organizations to assist in paying for the costs of establishing and operating programs to protect and locate missing patients with Alzheimer's disease.

With police departments now being called upon to find missing elderly, these community organizations are critical in assisting law enforcement officials with their searches. Tips from family and people in the community often lead to the whereabouts of any missing person, including the elderly.

Each year, thousands more Americans are being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. The symptoms of these diseases often leave their victims feeling disoriented, lost, and vulnerable. H.R. 6503, the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program, provides support to those local programs working everyday to offer these patients protection and their loved ones some peace of mind.

I might add here that just this weekend I found out a dear friend of mine was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He's been a long-distance runner for all of his adult life, and ironically enough, he's still able to go out and find trails and run on them, but it is something that his doctors are concerned about for him that one day will he, too, become one who is perhaps lost as he tries to negotiate his community and his neighborhood.

Certainly for folks like my friend and others around the country who are suffering from dementia, early states or later, we have to recognize the value and importance of this bill. I might note this passed the Judiciary Committee unanimously, and I certainly urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6503) to amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to reauthorize the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6503, the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program Reauthorization of 2008, helps to address the serious problem of seniors who go missing each year as a result of dementia.

The Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program was created in 1994. While Congress has continued to support and fund it, its formal authorization expired in 1998. This legislation, sponsored by the gentlelady from California (Ms. Waters), will reauthorize the program.

It authorizes the Attorney General to award competitive grants to nonprofit organizations for the planning, establishing, and operating locally based programs to protect and locate missing persons with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, or other problems.

This is an excellent measure that responds to a critical problem. Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I will yield the balance of the time to the gentlelady from California (Ms. Waters), a member of the Judiciary Committee and the author of the bill.