Transmitter helps rescuers find patients who become lost

By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent, 10/12/2003

People with Alzheimer's disease and other disorders who wander off in Norfolk County may now stand a better chance of being found safely as a result of a new initiative.

The office of Sheriff Michael G. Bellotti has adopted a nationwide program designed to ease the task of rescuing people with Alzheimer's or other disorders who stray from their supervised care.

Under the program, individuals at risk are voluntarily outfitted with wristbands that hold battery-operated radio transmitters. The transmitter emits a signal at a specific radio frequency for that individual. Upon notification by a caregiver, a search and rescue team could be deployed to the area with mobile radio receivers to track the signal.

Bellotti's office is the first agency in the state to offer the program, called Project Lifesaver, which was developed four years ago in Virginia and has since been introduced in 31 states by a nonprofit organization, Project Lifesaver International.

"We're all excited about it. We recognize the need for it," said William H. Knight, deputy superintendent of programs for the sheriff's office, pointing to a study released last year that estimated 15,000 people over age 65 in Norfolk County have Alzheimer's disease.

"It's one more senior initiative that allows us to better provide a level of protection and safety for seniors in Norfolk County in collaboration with our local law enforcement agencies and councils on aging," Bellotti said.

Milton Council on Aging director Mary Ann Sullivan said she is thrilled about the initiative, whose arrival comes as her agency is in the midst of a five-week program for families dealing with Alzheimer's.

She said the need for Project Lifesaver was highlighted by an incident in Milton in July when a woman who had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's wandered from her home. Less than a mile away, she became caught in some vines protruding from a tree and could not free herself.

The woman was eventually found safe about three hours later, Sullivan said, but "if this bracelet was available earlier it would have saved the woman and her family so much trauma and stress."

Sixteen members of the sheriff's department received training last week on use of the equipment and the search-and-rescue process.

As the first Massachusetts sheriff to adopt Project Lifesaver, Bellotti has agreed to serve as the program's statewide coordinator, and his office will provide training to other public safety agencies that request it. Seven members of the department received extra training certifying them to be instructors.

The overall cost of the equipment, including three radio receivers and antennae and an initial supply of 25 radio wrist receivers, was $23,100. The department also paid $1,000 for the training and is responsible for the transportation and lodging costs incurred by the trainers, according to Knight.

Knight said the sheriff's rescuers will probably be split into teams, one of which would be on call at all times. All are participating as volunteers.

Although equipped with the electronic devices, the teams will still rely on information from caregivers, he said, noting that the radio signals have a range of three-quarters of a mile to a mile on the ground, and 3 to 5 miles when received on a helicopter. All searches will begin where the missing person was last seen.

The sheriff's office plans to distribute the wrist bands on a community-by-community basis, working through TRIAD, a crime prevention initiative for seniors that Bellotti offers in partnership with local police and fire departments and councils on aging.

Bellotti plans to distribute the wrist bands for free, using private donations and grants to pay for those bands beyond the first 25. If demand exceeds supply at any one time, families will be able to secure a wrist band by donating $300 -- the cost of the device -- and paying $25 a month for batteries and other operating costs. All families will be expected to return the equipment when they no longer need it.

Project Lifesaver began in 1999 as a program of the search and rescue company of the Chesapeake, Va., sheriff's office. The following year it became a separate nonprofit organization, according to the group's director, Gene Saunders, who is also chief of the Chesapeake sheriff's search and rescue team.

Reached by phone, Saunders said he has seen first-hand the value of the program both in saving lives and in reducing the time and costs of searches.

Before his team started using the program, Saunders said, "with an average search you could count on being out four, five, six, seven hours or more. It was nothing unusual to be out 10, 12 hours, or several days," with as many as 200 rescuers involved. On at least four occasions, the object of the search was found dead.

By contrast, he said, the 85 rescues Saunders has done with Project Lifesaver have taken an average of 16 minutes, with no more than three or four rescuers involved. All 85 people have been found safe.

The results are similar across the country, with 849 Project Lifesaver searches all resulting in the safe return of the individual. The average recovery time has been under half an hour, Saunders said.

Norwood Council on Aging director Jean Bargfrede said the program sounds like a good idea.

"People do wander off, and it would be a way to track them down," she said.

Bargfrede recalled an incident several years ago when a person with memory impairment wandered off along a highway before being safely returned. Another memory-impaired person wandered off from a Council on Aging meal site in Norwood a year or two ago, she said. According to Saunders, about 50 percent of people with Alzheimer's who get lost are found dead or seriously injured if not located within 24 hours.