Looking for the Lost
May 25th 2008 09:10
I've talked a lot about the GPS we had in England while we were there. A great little device that we called Malvina (partly named after the New Zealand opera singer), and which took us from town to town with very few hitches. (I say 'very few' but in fact there were some occasional moments when Malvina's name was mud. A few.)
I've just seen advertised a different use of GPS: to track down your parents when they get lost! Both my parents are now long past the point when they're going to get lost on this earth, but it's an interesting idea: gps tracking of good old mum and dad (although, since this is America we're talking about, no doubt that should be good old mom and dad.)
How would you persuade your parents to put on some device that would make sure they weren't going to get lost - or rather, when they did get lost, would make sure you could find them? I can just imagine telling my mother she had to wear some special bracelet or clip that would keep beeping at my end, or would show up on my computer, and I'd be able to tell exactly which shops she went into, and whether she went to the public toilets or the library; how long she was waiting at the bus stop and so on.
It does sound a little Big Brotherish, but then my mother wasn't someone who got lost - normally. On the other hand, my aunt in England could have done with such a device for her husband, who got lost on several occasions after he got Alzheimer's, and was found distraught more than once.
An elderly man who lived down the road from us eventually got dementia of some form and at least once we found him outside our house not sure whether he was going home or coming from home, or whether he knew where home was at all.
So it sounds as though this kind of tracking could be useful. There's one thing though: it's all very well knowing where your beloved or aged parent is when you check them out on the computer; will they still be there by the time you go to find them?
I've just seen advertised a different use of GPS: to track down your parents when they get lost! Both my parents are now long past the point when they're going to get lost on this earth, but it's an interesting idea: gps tracking of good old mum and dad (although, since this is America we're talking about, no doubt that should be good old mom and dad.)
How would you persuade your parents to put on some device that would make sure they weren't going to get lost - or rather, when they did get lost, would make sure you could find them? I can just imagine telling my mother she had to wear some special bracelet or clip that would keep beeping at my end, or would show up on my computer, and I'd be able to tell exactly which shops she went into, and whether she went to the public toilets or the library; how long she was waiting at the bus stop and so on.
It does sound a little Big Brotherish, but then my mother wasn't someone who got lost - normally. On the other hand, my aunt in England could have done with such a device for her husband, who got lost on several occasions after he got Alzheimer's, and was found distraught more than once.
An elderly man who lived down the road from us eventually got dementia of some form and at least once we found him outside our house not sure whether he was going home or coming from home, or whether he knew where home was at all.
So it sounds as though this kind of tracking could be useful. There's one thing though: it's all very well knowing where your beloved or aged parent is when you check them out on the computer; will they still be there by the time you go to find them?
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