If you buy a GPS Dementia Tracker for a loved one who is looked after in a care home, you'll want to ensure that the staff are on-board and know what to do.

It helps when things are simple

Care and support workers can be incredibly busy, with many other things to remember as part of their plentiful routines. Fortunately, the setting up and working of the Stray Star Dementia Tracker is very simple. We have a small "essentials" section in the manual so you can get up and running as quick as possible. Once the SIM card is activated inside (a one-off thing you do when you receive it), it's just a case of switching the dementia tracker on. Then, whenever the person with dementia goes wandering and a location is needed – you, or any carer who knows the phone number – is able to text it for an instant location.

Set-up the Dementia Tracker for the Care Home

Before giving the Dementia Tracker to an Alzheimer’s or dementia care worker, you will need to set it up. 

Activate the SIM card for the Dementia Tracker

You just need to follow the step-by-step simple instructions on the friendly welcome page with the dementia tracker to activate it, then you will know the phone number. You’ll need this for getting text locations (we've included a reminder space in the manual to write it down).

Then you can hand the Dementia Tracker over to a care support worker with a copy of the manual (we include two in the box) and explain the simple text message they need to send if the person becomes lost.

The care worker might want to add their own mobile number to the dementia tracker to receive alerts

This then enables them to receive low battery alerts, be called if the SOS button is pressed on the dementia tracker, or receive wandering or fall alerts if these functions are set. You can also set these numbers up remotely (via text) and can add more than one carer’s number (including your own).

Ask them to charge the Dementia Tracker at set times. 

The Stray Star Dementia Tracker for dementia can be left on the charging cradle when not in use – so this is fairly simple. They don’t even need to fiddle about with leads (or forcing the wrong one in or upside down - with definitely can and does happen when the cradles aren't used!)

You can always test the Dementia Tracker

If you’re concerned that the care staff aren’t charging the Dementia Tracker sufficiently, or allowing it to power down and not switching it back on, then you can always send location texts! Just a single text location to the Dementia Tracker will be enough to let you know that its working properly, and each location text also lets you know the current battery level. With online tracking, you'll also be able to see where the Dementia Tracker has gone in any given day or week. 

Care workers love our Dementia Tracker!

We’ve had some great feedback from care staff who use our Stray Star Dementia Tracker on behalf of their service users. Don’t forget that its a huge benefit to care workers to be able to locate their elderly dementia patients if they go wandering or get lost! They don’t want to have to call you and explain that your loved one has wandered from the home and can't be found. So remember to explain things from their point of view, “selling the benefits” if you need to so that you get them on board! But you really shouldn’t have a problem – we’ve had some fantastic care-home support staff who have been extremely enthusiastic about using the Dementia Tracker.

The Best UK Dementia Tracker

Learn more about our Stray Star Dementia Tracker: packed with features, free pre-installed SIM card and plenty of great information, support and aftercare.