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Project Lifesaver comes to the Valley

Morning Call (Allentown, PA) - 12/16/2014

Dec. 16--Increasingly, communities are faced with the daunting task of finding those who have wandered away or become lost and have medical issues like Alzheimer's, dementia or autism.

Multiple law-enforcement agencies, hundreds of police officers and thousands of dollars can be spent searching for those people. And the longer it takes to find them, the greater the risk of a tragic ending.

That's where Project Lifesaver International comes in. Its search and rescue and tracking program is designed for at-risk people who, because of medical conditions, are prone to getting lost or wandering off.

At a news conference Monday at Sacred Heart Senior Living in Center Valley, Project Lifesaver officials announced the successful launching of the program in the Lehigh Valley. Allentown and Bethlehem police departments are among the 1,300 public safety agencies in 47 states participating. Lower Milford Township police are also in the process of coming on board.

"It saves money, saves time, saves lives," said Gene Saunders, who founded the Florida-based nonprofit in 1999 and is the company's CEO.

Here's how Project Lifesaver works:

A person living in a community that has a Project Lifesaver participating agency is enrolled and given a personalized wristband to wear. The wristband emits a tracking signal on an individually assigned FM radio frequency. Caregivers notify their local Project Lifesaver agency that the person is missing and a search team is dispatched, using a mobile locater-tracking system.

Project Lifesaver trains participating agencies on how to use the tracking system and provides information on conditions like Alzheimer's, dementia, Down syndrome and autism. Funding usually comes from state or federal grants.

Recovery time for Project Lifesaver clients averages 30 minutes, 95 percent less time than standard operations.

"This problem is not going to go away," Saunders said of the need to find those who have become lost or wandered away. "Let's protect our citizens even more."

The strain on law enforcement resources when it comes to these searches is something that Saunders has seen firsthand. He's a retired captain from the Chesapeake Police Department in Virginia and has decades of law enforcement experience. Saunders had a case with a person with Alzheimer's who was missing for two weeks. The person was found dead a quarter mile from home.

The search cost his police department $342,000.

Saunders got the idea to start Project Lifesaver when he received a brochure on tracking animals.

"I thought if we can do this for wildlife why can't we do this for at-risk people," Saunders said.

He started out with the program specifically for those with Alzheimer's but expanded it to include the many other cognitive conditions that can prompt people to wander away or get lost.

Efforts to launch Project Lifesaver in the Valley began in 2008 but it took till recently to get it off the ground.

Martha Lieberman, local coordinator for Project Lifesaver, said the first four bracelets were given to local people in early October.

"It is growing steadily," Saunders said. "Word's getting out about the benefits to the community."

jsheehan@mcall.com

twitter @jenwsheehan

610-820-6628

HOW DO I

FIND OUT MORE?

--Contact local coordinator Martha Lieberman at 610-966-8511.

--Visit http://www.projectlifesaver.org.

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