About us
The WanderSearch Auckland Charitable Trust is a small charity providing a simple radio frequency tracking system for people living with a cognitive impairment who have the potential to wander.
Mission Statement
To provide systems to assist those, in the greater Auckland region, who are cognitively impaired and have the potential to wander and to support their care-givers.
Vision
That any cognitively impaired person in the greater Auckland region who has the potential to wander is provided with a WanderSearch device and is part of the WanderSearch programme.
Guiding Principals
We acknowledge the right of all cognitively impaired individuals in the greater Auckland region to be kept safe in their community.
We respect the privacy of our clients and their whanau and caregivers, and the confidentiality of any information given to WanderSearch Auckland.
We treat our clients and their support people with dignity and courtesy.
We ensure our services are available to all clients according to their need, not according to their ability to cover the associated costs.
We maintain our volunteers’ education of tracking systems; communication skills and foster appreciation for their efforts to support WanderSearch Auckland.
We work with our Partner agencies and organisations in Auckland and around New Zealand collaboratively and professionally.
We manage our funds to maximise our front-line services.
Our History
WandaTrak (as it was known in the early days) was first used in Nelson around 2006 to track people living with dementia who were reported missing from their residence. It was a tool which enabled Search & Rescue to locate the missing person quickly and return them to a safe environment.
In 2008, Police Search & Rescue personnel in Auckland became aware they were attending an increasing number of callouts to search for people living with dementia who had wandered from their place of residence be it a Rest Home or a private home / residence.
Searching for people living with cognitive decline such as Dementia is difficult as in our larger cities, they can easily be considered to be just another older person out for their daily walk and therefore no-one takes notice of them.
Auckland Police Search & Rescue and Auckland Land Search & Rescue volunteers searched the internet looking for a suitable tracking system which, while not preventing the person from wandering, would allow Search & Rescue personnel to locate the person quickly and easily and return them to a safe environment.
WandaTrak was introduced into the Auckland region in 2009 and, due to the effectiveness of the system for Search & Rescue, other Search & Rescue groups around NZ started using the equipment.
In 2013, WanderSearch Auckland Charitable Trust was formed and renamed WanderSearch Tracking.
Statistics
Since our programme commenced there have been over
720 Police callouts for our clients.
