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SARATOGA SPRINGS — Last month, on Sept. 12, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America announced that it awarded a $5,000 grant to the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office to fund Project Lifesaver, a program and organization assisting families caring for loved ones with dementia-related illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s, or who are otherwise prone to wandering.
Accordingtotheoriginalpress release, Project Lifesaver “allows caregivers to voluntarily register their relatives with dementia or autism to wear a small wrist or ankle transmitter that emits an individualized tracking signal.”
According to Deputy Jason Lang of the Saratoga Sheriff’s Office, the other part of Project Lifesaver’s equipment is a handheld receiver which an officer can tune to a specific frequency, thus allowing them to find a specific person registered in the program.
He said that the receiver’s range is approximately three quarters of a mile, but that if the range was not large enough, they could hook the receiver into a police car’s antenna and drive around to cover a larger area more quickly.
He clarified that this was in addition to standard search procedures, like canine tracking and search groups. The purpose of the Project Lifesaver equipment is to reduce the search time and required manpower, not to replace existing measures.
Thus far, Lang said that four people in the program have wandered away, all of which were located before officers equipped with Project Lifesaver receivers could arrive on scene.
Chris Schneider, Communications Director for the Foundation, said that the grants for Project Lifesaver are new this year, and that the Saratoga Sheriff’s Office was one of 10 member organizations throughout the country selected for the grant.
Sandy Silverstein, Media Relations Manager for the Foundation, said that some of the other organizations given the grant this year include the Alzheimer’s Alliance of Smith County, in Texas, and the Anchorage Search Team in Alaska.
Schneider added that Alzheimer’s effects 400,000 people in New York State alone, and about five million people in the country. It is a serious enough problem that it is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, climbing to fifth for people over 65-years-old.
He said that Project Lifesaver is important because people who wander may not realize that they are lost or need help, may not know who or how to call for help and as a result have become a significant safety hazard.
According to Lang, a receiver costs approximately $1,200, and a transmitter is $325. With the new grant, he said the Sheriff’s Department intended to add another four receivers to their available equipment, allowing for quicker response times.
He said that they were likely not going to buy new transmitters with the grant money, as people have donated some, the Foundation has provided others and because the cost is much lower than for a new receiver.
For more information, contact the Saratoga County Sheriff ’s Office at 518-885-6761, or visit www.saratogacountysheriff. org; or visit the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s website at www.alzfdn.org.
