Lawmakers and doctors at Winthrop Hospital in Mineola Thursday urged Congress to approve legislation that would help prevent dementia and Alzheimer's disease patients from wandering away, and help find them if they do.

Rep. Tom Suozzi, a co-sponsor of the legislation, says the bill calls for $10 million to be spent over the next five years, nationwide. That money would be used for special law enforcement training related to finding missing Alzheimer's and dementia patients. The bill would also help fund tracking devices that patients could wear.

The officials and medical professionals were joined by Andrew Falzon, whose father Alfred, 77, went missing on July 25. The dementia patient had wandered away from his assisted living home in Westbury and was eventually found 36 hours later in a wooded area near the intersection of the Wantagh and Northern State parkways. 

"To see him laying there alive and responsive was nothing short of a miracle," said Andrew Falzon. "Had my father had access to the technology that this bill would provide, we would have found him in three hours instead of 36 hours."

It's estimated that six out of 10 people diagnosed with Alzheimer's or dementia will wander away from their homes at some point in their lives. If they are not found within 24 hours, the fatality rate is 25 percent. That figure goes up to 40 percent if the missing person is not found within 72 hours.

It's estimated that 50,000 Long Islanders suffer from Alzheimer's or dementia.