New NY Law Creates Alerts for Missing Adults

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed a law creating a statewide alert system for Alzheimer's patients and other vulnerable adults who wander off and get lost.

The system is similar to the nationwide Amber Alert program for missing children. It will use the same mechanism to provide rapid public notification regarding missing adults who suffer from dementia or cognitive impairments that put them at risk.

A number of other states have similar laws to protect vulnerable adults.

Assemblyman William Magnarelli of Syracuse was a co-sponsor of the bill. He cited the case of Frank Wlosinski, a man with Alzheimer's who wandered away from his Fairmount home in January 2010 and was found dead in Onondaga Lake.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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