Published: April 22, 2008 09:15 pm         

Project to benefit autistic kids, Alzheimer’s patients

Autistic children and Alzheimer’s victims can be tracked down swifter and without the time-consuming random searches, courtesy of new technology that works in the fashion of global positioning devices.

By June, the Raleigh County Commission hopes to have available tiny transmitters that can be strapped to the ankles or wrists of people with individualized health needs.

In the event they become separated from a caregiver, such as in public venues, or simply wander away from home, a call to the Emergency Operations Center can immediately trigger a search aided by devices that pinpoint a lost person’s location.

“The longest it has ever taken for anyone to be found has been 44 minutes,” commission president Pat Reed said at Tuesday’s meeting where the Project Lifesaver was adopted formally.

“We’re very excited about this new program. We feel it will save lives and will give us an instrument to find these individuals that get lost from their caregiver.”

A repeater will be operational at the EOC, she explained. Once a call comes in, it will be transferred to deputies, who will be trained in responding to the transmitters to launch an immediate search.

“We’re asking that anyone that has an individual that will qualify for this transmitter to call the Raleigh County Commission and leave a name and number,” Reed said.

“As soon as we have it in place, we can install the transmitters on these individuals.”

Reed said a number of other counties have approved the transmitters with positive results.

“It will save lives,” she said, noting a man lost for two days drowned after toppling into a creek in Wyoming County, which doesn’t use the devices.

“We want to do this as quickly possible.”

Individuals using the transmitters will be charged $10 a month, which includes battery replacement, and anyone who can’t afford the fee will be furnished one under a line item in the county budget, Reed said.

Afterward, Reed couldn’t say how many Raleigh County residents would qualify for the transmitters.

“I think it’s a wonderful project,” she said. “We know that in this area that Fayette County adopted it some months back. In one week, someone’s life was saved. The person had gotten away from the caregiver and got lost. We’re real excited that we’re providing this for the people in our county who may need this and can be found within a reasonable amount of time and still be alive.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com