"One thing we know is 60 per cent of Alzheimer patients will wander," she said after her resolution calling for a Silver Alert system was passed in the legislature.

"Within 24 hours if they are not found, (there's a) 50 per cent chance they are injured — or they've died."

The more quickly word of a missing person with dementia is spread, the more likely they are to be unhurt and alive.

A Silver Alert system, based on an initiative in place throughout the U. S. which utilizes media outlets and electronic road signs, similar to Amber Alerts, would notify the public of a missing person with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia.

The move comes on the heels of recent incident where an Ancaster man with dementia went missing one night and was found wandering around an east Mountain plaza the next day.

MPPs of all stripes shared their personal stories about wandering family members after Aggelonitis brought forward her resolution.

The Mountain MPP had her own experience a few years ago, when the grandmother who she was named after went missing after a family dinner. "We found her blocks away in a ditch at night and she had fallen," said Aggelonitis. "If we had not found her she would not have lived throughout the night."

More than 30 jurisdictions in the U. S. have a Silver Alert system in place, she said.

Aggelonitis said it could easily piggyback on the Amber Alert system and is hopeful the Ministry of Safety and Correctional Services will implement the initiative soon.

"This is not a costly program because the infrastructure already exists," she said.