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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In December 2008, a 77-year-old woman went missing from her home in Putnam County and died that same day of hypothermia.

Dorothy Lee Meadows was found in a ditch across the street from her home. She had died during the night, despite a missing person's complaint filed with local police and her family's efforts to find her.

Last month, Meadows' son sued the town of Eleanor in Putnam Circuit Court, claiming the town failed to have in place a missing persons protocol for the elderly and those who are mentally impaired.

Since Meadows' death, state lawmakers have passed the Silver Alert Plan, which regulates how police handle a missing person's complaint involving a person, usually an elderly person, that is "cognitively impaired."

But officials with the Alzheimer's Association are concerned about police agencies' slow progress to get trained and make use of the law.

The Silver Alert Plan went into effect in July 2009 and works similar to the children's Amber Alert. It requires police agencies to notify media outlets of the missing person and also undergo training on how to coordinate a search for the person.

Jane Marks, executive director of the West Virginia chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, said the association has met with only a handful of city and county police agencies to train staff on the program.

"The goal is to train all of them," Marks said.

State Police also have yet to put up a Silver Alert notification section on their Web site, similar to what they have for Amber Alerts, she said.

"We are not taking the problem seriously enough," she said. "A crisis is coming, and we're not prepared to meet it."

West Virginia has one of the oldest populations in the nation and also has some of the highest rates of Alzheimer's disease, Marks said.

"It will become a bigger issue," she said. "We can expect to see a huge increase in the number of cases [of Alzheimer's and dementia] as the Baby Boomers begin to get older."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In December 2008, a 77-year-old woman went missing from her home in Putnam County and died that same day of hypothermia.

Dorothy Lee Meadows was found in a ditch across the street from her home. She had died during the night, despite a missing person's complaint filed with local police and her family's efforts to find her.

Last month, Meadows' son sued the town of Eleanor in Putnam Circuit Court, claiming the town failed to have in place a missing persons protocol for the elderly and those who are mentally impaired.

Since Meadows' death, state lawmakers have passed the Silver Alert Plan, which regulates how police handle a missing person's complaint involving a person, usually an elderly person, that is "cognitively impaired."

But officials with the Alzheimer's Association are concerned about police agencies' slow progress to get trained and make use of the law.

The Silver Alert Plan went into effect in July 2009 and works similar to the children's Amber Alert. It requires police agencies to notify media outlets of the missing person and also undergo training on how to coordinate a search for the person.

Jane Marks, executive director of the West Virginia chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, said the association has met with only a handful of city and county police agencies to train staff on the program.

"The goal is to train all of them," Marks said.

State Police also have yet to put up a Silver Alert notification section on their Web site, similar to what they have for Amber Alerts, she said.

"We are not taking the problem seriously enough," she said. "A crisis is coming, and we're not prepared to meet it."

West Virginia has one of the oldest populations in the nation and also has some of the highest rates of Alzheimer's disease, Marks said.

"It will become a bigger issue," she said. "We can expect to see a huge increase in the number of cases [of Alzheimer's and dementia] as the Baby Boomers begin to get older."

More than 60 percent of people who suffer from Alzheimer's or dementia wander, and many do so repeatedly, said Laurel Kirksey, development director with the Alzheimer's Association.

"That's a huge number of people, and especially with West Virginia being so rural, any number of us can walk outside our back door and be lost for days or weeks," she said.

When an elderly person who is cognitively impaired gets lost, it's critical that person be located within 24 hours, Marks said. The people are frail and often not dressed for the weather, she said. Many are on medication.

Prior to the passage of the Silver Alert Plan, cities, towns, municipalities and counties established their own policies on how to handle a missing person's complaint for an elderly or mentally impaired person, Marks said.

"A lot of local departments have their own policy and procedures, and many of them have had us come out and train their staff on strategies on how to determine where to look and how to approach a person once they've been found," she said. 

The Silver Alert program is designed to enhance that, and establish a statewide policy on how to handle these situations, she said.

West Virginia is one of 15 states that have adopted the Silver Alert program.

Many counties, including Putnam, have put in place GPS tracking programs, such as Comfort Zone and Project Lifesaver, programs the Alzheimer's Association encourages families to participate in.

Families need to take precautions and expect their loved ones suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia will wander at some point, Marks said.

For information about the Alzheimer's Association, visit www.alz.org/wv or call 304-343-2717. For more information about the Silver Alert Program, visit www.nationalsilveralert.org or call 757-239-7964.

Reach Veronica Nett at veroni...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5113.