Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program Reauthorization Act of 2012

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank Chairman Lamar Smith for his support for H.R. 2800, the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program Reauthorization Act. This bill reauthorizes a small, but effective, program that assists local law enforcement and protects vulnerable people with Alzheimer's disease. I appreciate the chairman's willingness to work with me and move this bill forward.

Alzheimer's disease currently affects an estimated 5.3 million Americans, and that number will multiply in the coming decades as our population grows. The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 7.7 million Americans will have Alzheimer's by the year 2030, and 11 to 16 million Americans will have the disease by the year 2050.

One great risk for Alzheimer's patients is wandering away from home. According to the Alzheimer's Association, more than 60 percent of Alzheimer's patients are likely to wander. Wanderers are vulnerable to dehydration, weather conditions, traffic hazards, and individuals who prey on vulnerable seniors. Up to 50 percent of Alzheimer's patients who wander will become seriously injured or die if they

are not found within 24 hours of their departure from home. Wanderers often cannot remember who they are or where they live and cannot assist law enforcement officials and other first responders who try to help them.

The Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program is a Department of Justice program that provides competitive grants to nonprofit organizations to assist in paying for the cost of planning, designing, establishing, and operating programs to protect and locate missing patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. These grants help local communities and public safety agencies quickly identify persons with Alzheimer's disease who wander or who are missing and reunite them with their families.

The program was originally authorized in 1996, but has been operating under an expired authorization since 1998. H.R. 2800 reauthorizes the program and authorizations $1 million per year in appropriations for fiscal years 2013 through 2017. This authorization level will allow the program to operate at the funding year 2012 funding level for the next 5 years.

This program is extremely cost effective. An annual appropriation of simply $1 million would easily result in millions more in savings for the Federal Government by allowing more Alzheimer's patients to remain at home with their families, thereby reducing nursing-home utilization and saving Medicare and Medicaid expenses.

H.R. 2800 is cosponsored by 18 Members of Congress, including Congressman Chris Smith and Congressman Ed Markey, the cochairs of the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease. The bill is also supported by both the Alzheimer's Association and the Alzheimer's Foundation of America.

This program saves law enforcement officials valuable time and allows them to focus on other security concerns. It also reduces unintentional injuries and deaths among Alzheimer's patients, brings peace of mind to their families, and thus allows more patients to remain at home with people who love them.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2800) to amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to reauthorize the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend and include extraneous materials on H.R. 2800, as amended, currently under consideration.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2800, the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program Reauthorization Act of 2012, is sponsored by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters). I thank her for her work on this issue.

Alzheimer's disease is a serious condition that is becoming more and more prevalent. The disease affects as many as 5 million people in this country, or one in eight older Americans, and a new person develops Alzheimer's every 69 seconds. This pace is expected to increase with time.

It is estimated that more than half of the people with Alzheimer's or other types of dementia will become lost from their families or caretakers at some point. Many of these people cannot remember their name, their family members or their address. This makes returning home safely difficult for law enforcement officers and Good Samaritans.

As is true whenever a person goes missing, time is of the essence when attempting to locate a lost Alzheimer's patient. One study found an almost 50 percent mortality rate for Alzheimer's patients who are not found within 24 hours of becoming lost.

To address the problem of missing Alzheimer's patients, Congress created the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program in 1996. This Justice Department program provides grants to locally based organizations to protect and locate missing patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. Congress has appropriated money for this every year since its creation.

The Justice Department has provided grants to several programs, including the Alzheimer's Association's Safe Return program. In this program, people with Alzheimer's and dementia are registered in a data base and receive a bracelet that indicates the individual is memory impaired. The bracelet also includes a 24-hour emergency response number to call if the person is found wandering or has a medical emergency.

The Alzheimer's Association reports a 99 percent success rate for reuniting enrolled missing individuals with their caretakers through the Safe Return program.

H.R. 2800, the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program Reauthorization Act of 2012, reauthorizes this program at $1 million a year for 5 years. This authorization level reflects the fiscal year 2012 appropriations level. H.R. 2800 helps to ensure that people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are returned safely home when they become lost.

Again, I want to thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) for her leadership on this issue, and I encourage my colleagues to join me in support of this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Lamar Smith and Ranking Member John Conyers for advancing this bill through the Judiciary Committee. And, I especially want to thank Congresswoman Maxine Waters for her commitment and hard work over the years in support of the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program.

Alzheimer's disease robs millions of individuals in the U.S. of their ability to recognize once familiar places and faces or even to remember their names and addresses.

Not everyone with Alzheimer's wanders, but an estimated 60% wander at some point in the disease, and many of those wander repeatedly. They easily become disoriented and lost, even in their own neighborhood. While wandering is common, it also can be extremely dangerous, particularly for the unprotected and the mentally and physically vulnerable. If not found within 24 hours, up to half of those who wander risk serious injury or death. And their friends and familieis are beside themselves with worry.

Since its inception in FY1996 and the awarding of a grant to the Alzheimer's Association, the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program has been a literal life-line, helping in the safe return of many thousands of wanderers.

The program has been funded every year since 1996 and funding has been used to establish a nationwide emergency response service for individuals with Alzheimer's or another dementia who wander or have a medical emergency, including an identification and enrollment system.

H.R. 2800 reauthorizes for five years this Department of Justice Program that provides grants to nonprofit organizations to operate programs designed to help local communities and law enforcement officials quickly identify wandering dementia patients and reunite them with their families.

The program has a 98% success rate for safely returning program enrollees who were reported missing. The program also assists individuals with dementia who are not enrolled, with an 88% success rate. I encourage all of my colleagues to vote for this important legislation.