Virginia Group Rescues the Memory Impaired

Memory-impaired people easily get disoriented and lost. Project Lifesaver uses up-to-date equipment and trained professionals to help return these people to the safety of their homes.

By Angela Sivak, NCPC Intern

Is there a way to protect our loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s or related memory diseases from danger? Today in the United States more than 5.3 million people suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and more than half of these people will wander away from their homes and become lost, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Once lost, these people become an easy target for predators and are at high risk of injury and death. It is the mission of Project Lifesaver to find these people and return them home.

Project Lifesaver is a nonprofit organization that began in 1999 as a search and rescue group in Chesapeake, VA. Today, 1,000 agencies in the United States, Canada, and Australia participate in Project Lifesaver, whose headquarters remains in Chesapeake. In the past decade, the organization has conducted 1,900 searches with a 100 percent success rate, according to Project Lifesaver International, the organization’s international umbrella group. The Virginia program’s effectiveness has earned it the Commonwealth Council on Aging’s 2009 Best Practice Award for Senior Safety.

The program is based upon state-of-the-art technology. A tracking device, programmed into an ID bracelet worn by the person afflicted by the disease emits tracking signals that allow search and rescue teams to pinpoint his or her location. Members of the Project Lifesaver team also have to receive special training, where they learn how to effectively communicate with a person suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, Down syndrome, or some other like disorder, because the team also needs to know how to help someone who is disoriented, afraid, and untrusting.

With the equipment and training of Project Lifesaver, these search and rescue missions take much less time and are more effective in preventing harm from coming to these lost people.

Patrick Harris, a former executive director of the Crime Prevention Association of Virginia and promoter of Project Lifesaver, says, “Search times have been reduced from hours and days to minutes. In more than 1,900 searches, there have been no reported serious injuries or deaths. Most recovery times average less than 30 minutes.” (Harris now serves on NCPC’s staff.)

Take the story of a 45-year-old man suffering from a brain injury as an example of the effectiveness of Project Lifesaver. This man wandered one and one-half miles away from his house in Pittsylvania County, VA, and became lost. His family reported him missing to the deputy sheriff, who sent a team from Project Lifesaver out to find him. They located the man within 20 minutes.

Another time, a 79 year-old-man with Alzheimer's disease drove his truck away from Virginia Beach, VA, and became lost. After people spent two and one-half days trying to find the man, a police helicopter carrying a Project Lifesaver team was sent in to track him down. In little over half an hour, they found the man 14 miles from his home.

An even more serious situation occurred in Chatham, VA, where an 80-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease left her house late in the night and got lost. Her family sent word to Project Lifesaver, and two sheriff’s vehicles equipped with Project Lifesaver emergency responder units arrived on the scene. The team went out to search and found the woman lying in a tobacco field covered in mud. The woman had fallen and was unable to get up. If the team hadn’t been able to find her, she could easily have died.

Without Project Lifesaver and the technology it offers, the search for lost people could take many days and require hundreds of search parties.

Perhaps you feel that the Project Lifesaver program could help in your community. To become involved in Project Lifesaver, call 757-546-5502 and ask for the director of Training Support, or visit the organization’s website at http://www.projectlifesaver.org. The cost of installing Project Lifesaver in your community, including all the equipment, training, and guides needed to implement the program, is $3,000. Considering the expenses of labor and time spent on recovering these lost people without the program, implementing Project Lifesaver saves your community money. “In most cases,” says Harris, “Project Lifesaver eliminates the need for expensive and costly search and rescue operations.”

For many people with Alzheimer’s or related diseases, the world can be a dangerous place. Project Lifesaver’s mission is to ensure these people will always be returned to safety.