Chesterfield County Police Department

Wristbands aid in locating lost Alzheimer’s patients

A program called Project Lifesaver is providing a new level of safety for seniors living with Alzheimer’s disease, and peace of mind for their families and caregivers.

Alzheimer’s patients sometimes wander unknowingly, which often leads to lengthy search-and-rescue operations. Those searches are much shorter now thanks to technology wrapped into a wristband about the size of the average watch.

Project Lifesaver wristbands transmit tracking signals, enabling specially trained public-safety personnel to home in and quickly locate people wearing them.

The Chesterfield County Police Department, in cooperation with Chesterfield TRIAD, offers the wristbands free of charge to citizens diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

“Having an Alzheimer’s patient wear the wristband certainly eases the mind of the caregiver,” said Crime Prevention Officer Mike Catron of the Chesterfield County Police Department. “It offers families an added measure of peace of mind that, should their loved ones wander, they can be located quickly.”

Across Virginia and much of the United States, Project Lifesaver wristbands are helping authorities locate wandering Alzheimer’s patients, or people with other forms of dementia. According to the Project Lifesaver Web site at www.projectlifesaver.org, more than 1,000 searches nationwide have ended without injury. In Virginia, more than 300 searches have been successful. The average search time is less than a half-hour.

Project Lifesaver wristbands are equipped with small, battery-operated radios that transmit tracking signals every second, round-the-clock. The batteries, which are changed monthly, last up to 45 days.

Radio technology was chosen over global-positioning-system, or GPS, technology because of challenges involved in GPS operation. GPS units function by communicating with satellites, but have significantly reduced battery life compared to radio transmitters, and sometimes function improperly, or not at all, when inside a building or under an overcast sky or heavy tree canopy.

Before Project Lifesaver, the only program available to deal with missing Alzheimer’s patients was a registry system. A registered patient wore a bracelet with a

1-800 number. Someone had to notice the person wearing the bracelet and then call for help. Because Alzheimer’s patients are often disoriented and untrusting, it’s often difficult for people to approach them.

Public-safety personnel who respond to Project Lifesaver calls are trained not only to operate the tracking equipment, but on how to approach a subject and gain his or her trust.

Chesterfield County is able to provide the wristbands to Alzheimer’s patients free of charge through grants that are currently funding the program’s cost, Catron said.

Project Lifesaver is endorsed by The National Sheriff’s Association, Virginia Sheriff’s Association, Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, International Society of Crime Prevention Practitioners and the Commonwealth Autism Service Board.

For more information about Project Lifesaver in Chesterfield County, call Crime Prevention Officer Mike Catron of the Chesterfield County Police Department at 318-8690.

By Dave Goode