Project Lifesaver saving Lives helping Families in OC

Anyone who has been a caregiver or a parent to a child with Down Syndrome or Autism or someone with a form of Dementia, including Alzheimer’s, knows how difficult it can be to provide care to their loved ones, especially in those cases when individuals must be watched 24 hours a day or can very easily leave when one least expects it. Four years ago, the Walhalla Pilot Club applied for a grant under the Alzheimer’s Association and received the grant to purchase a receiver and two transmitters from a program called “Project Lifesaver.”  Project Lifesaver requires that a law enforcement agency coordinate the program and the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office signed an agreement with the Walhalla Pilot Club to coordinate the program.  “Project Lifesaver’s motto is “Bringing Loved Ones Home,” according to Rhonda Morgan, Victim’s Advocate with the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office.  “It is a tracking program where each individual person on the program is assigned a transmitter that has its own frequency assigned to it. In the event they run away, all of their information is in the database in the New World system in dispatch. The caregiver just has to call in and tell them that their loved one has wondered away from the location where they were at.  The officers take what we call a receiver and they go to that last location where they were seen, program in that frequency number and they start their search from that point out to try to find that individual.”  So far to date, every search that they have done has resulted in a positive outcome, such as a couple of separate situation in September when deputies were able to find individuals who were reported missing by using their Project Lifesaver tracking device.  On September 1^st, deputies responded to a location in the 1400 block of East Tamassee Drive in Seneca in reference to a missing person, who was missing for a short time before deputies arrived, but was a member of Project Lifesaver.  After checking the home to make sure the individual was not there, a Project Lifesaver tracking device was used to begin tracking the individual starting at the home, eventually leading deputies to the subjects location about 30 minutes later at the end of East Tamassee Road, where the subject was discovered lying in a ditch, whereupon the individual was assisted out of the ditch.  The subject was then transported by EMS to Oconee Medical Center to be treated for injuries. The second incident occurred on September 13^th, when deputies responded to Peach Tree Drive in reference to a missing person who is an Alzheimer’s patient who is also a member of Project Lifesaver.  After establishing that the subject was not in the house, the tracking device was used and determined that the individual was about a mile to 1.5 miles away behind the residence, where the subject was discovered in a thick wooded area.  The subject was reportedly disoriented, fatigued, and possibly dehydrated.  After receiving assistance from a neighbor with a four-wheeler, the subject was taken back to his residence. The transmitters themselves can be worn either on the wrist or the ankle, according to Morgan.  The adults with Alzheimer’s normally wear them on their wrist.  Parents who have children with Down Syndrome or Autism will place the transmitter on their ankles, and sometimes on their shoelaces or their belt loop.  The transmitters are about a half-inch to an inch in diameter. The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is the only law enforcement agency in the county that is involved with Project Lifesaver.  In fact, according to Morgan, the Sheriff’s Office does have clients within the municipalities of the county.  In order to place your loved one on the Project Lifesaver program, your loved one must suffer from some form of Dementia or Alzheimer’s or be a child who suffers from Down Syndrome or Autism.  Your loved one also must be prone to wandering in order to qualify as well.  The Sheriff’s Office is interested in expanding the program and individuals who are interested can call either of the Victim’s Advocates from the Sheriff’s Office, Rhonda Morgan or Vickie Bottoms, to check on availability.  Morgan’s office number is 864-718-1049 and Bottoms’ officer number is 864-638-4247.