State needs to join others in creating ‘Amber Alert’ system for elders

The heartbreaking death of 89-year-old Everett resident Ethel O’Neil brings into focus the challenge of tracking seniors diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. O’Neil, who exhibited early signs of dementia, disappeared while driving to the Everett Mall. Her body was discovered Tuesday in her car in a blackberry patch off a private road near Lake Stevens, almost a month after she was reported missing.

O’Neil’s agonizing narrative crystallizes a nightmare scenario for family members of Alzheimer’s patients. Sixty percent of those diagnosed with the disease wander off at least once. Families mistakenly assume that, after decades in the same house, their mom or uncle will be able to navigate home. But in addition to losing a sense of direction and the anxiety associated with becoming lost, those with dementia often experience limited visual recognition. Walk out to the driveway to pick up the paper and peer back: That’s not the house I grew up in, they say.

And so they meander, searching for the farmhouse or apartment that was never on that street or in that city to begin with.

The cognitive decline of a parent or spouse not only stirs anguish but also denial. Families must take affirmative steps to ensure a loved one’s health and safety, including snagging the car keys (best facilitated by the family doctor.)

Dementia sufferers are also easy marks for fraud and abuse. “Vulnerable” is the operative adjective.

As The Herald’s Eric Stevick reports, the O’Neil tragedy throws light on what the state and authorities are doing. Washington, always in the vanguard, has been curiously slow to take action on a statewide Alzheimer’s strategy.

“Wandering behavior has become increasingly familiar. Yet Washington is not prepared to deal with this emerging public health threat,” InvestigateWest’s Jason Alcorn wrote last year. “Few police departments have policies or training to educate officers on Alzheimer’s or dementia. An Amber Alert-like system set up in 2009 to help find wandering people is under used, its coordinator acknowledges, and bills to create a formal Silver Alert system like those in more than 20 other states foundered in both houses of the state Legislature.”

There is a remedy. State Sen. Barbary Bailey introduced legislation in past sessions to create a Silver Alert system; it’s an inspired effort that needs to be revisited. Oregon and California have Silver Alerts, and data illustrate that it works. The only criticism is whether statewide call outs diminish the force of Amber Alerts, but this isn’t a zero-sum game. Enhance the existing system or follow the lead of 26 other states and establish a Silver Alert program in Washington.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

A Volunteers of America Western Washington crisis counselor talks with somebody on the phone Thursday, July 28, 2022, in at the VOA Behavioral Health Crisis Call Center in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Editorial: Dire results will follow end of LGBTQ+ crisis line

The Trump administration will end funding for a 988 line that serves youths in the LGBTQ+ community.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Tuesday, July 8

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Comment: Students can thrive if we lock up their phones

There’s plenty of research proving the value of phone bans. The biggest hurdle has been parents.

Dowd: A lesson from amicable Founding Foes Adams and Jefferson

A new exhibit on the two founders has advice as we near the nation’s 250th birthday in the age of Trump.

GOP priorities are not pro-life, or pro-Christian

The Republican Party has long branded itself as the pro-life, pro-Christian party.… Continue reading

Was Republicans’ BBB just socialism for the ultra-rich?

It seems to this reader that the recently passed spending and tax… Continue reading

Comment: $100 billion for ICE just asks for waste, fraud, abuse

It will expand its holding facilities, more than double its agents and ensnare immigrants and citizens alike.

toon
Editorial: Using discourse to get to common ground

A Building Bridges panel discussion heard from lawmakers and students on disagreeing agreeably.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Friday, June 27, 2025. The sweeping measure Senate Republican leaders hope to push through has many unpopular elements that they despise. But they face a political reckoning on taxes and the scorn of the president if they fail to pass it. (Kent Nishimura/The New York Times)
Editorial: GOP should heed all-caps message on tax policy bill

Trading cuts to Medicaid and more for tax cuts for the wealthy may have consequences for Republicans.

Alaina Livingston, a 4th grade teacher at Silver Furs Elementary, receives her Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic for Everett School District teachers and staff at Evergreen Middle School on Saturday, March 6, 2021 in Everett, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: RFK Jr., CDC panel pose threat to vaccine access

Pharmacies following newly changed CDC guidelines may restrict access to vaccines for some patients.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Monday, July 7

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Comment: Supreme Court’s majority is picking its battles

If a constitutional crisis with Trump must happen, the chief justice wants it on his terms.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.