What Is A Silver Alert? | NC Nursing Home Neglect Lawyer
In 2007, North Carolina adopted the Silver Alert system in order to more quickly find nursing home elopement cases in which a resident wanders from the home grounds. Much like the national Amber Alert which assists authorities in finding missing children, the Silver alert quickly notifies police and other officials of missing seniors who may be in trouble.
Silver Alerts are then issued to the public through various media outlets as well highway signs in hopes of locating the missing person. Unlike other missing person instances, Silver Alerts allow caregivers who are not family members to report a missing person. Currently, 27 states including North Carolina have instituted a Silver Alert system. Seven other states are currently considering passing a Silver Alert system into law. A National Silver Alert system is currently a bill being considered by the US Senate.
In North Carolina in 2008, 128 Silver Alerts were issued and 118 seniors were found safety. It is not clear how many of these cases, however, are directly attributed to the issuing of the Silver Alert.