The Iowa Senate has passed a bill that would create a new system for so-called “Silver Alerts” in Iowa. Senator Bill Anderson of Pierson pushed the proposal.
“I was approached prior to the session by a constituent, Joel Robinson, regarding his grandfather, Dale, who lived in Moville. (Dale) was 84 years old and he disappeared on August 3 of last year,” Anderson says. “(Joel) had come to me and said when I went to the sheriff and requested they enact a ‘silver alert’ because his grandfather was suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s, they said: ‘Well, we don’t have such a thing.'”
If the bill gets approval from the Iowa House and then gets the governor’s signature, the DOT would use the electronic message boards along Iowa roadways to post a so-called “Silver Alert” to help locate an elderly person with dementia. The billboards are already used for so-called “Amber Alerts” when children are abducted.