Published: July 29, 2008 11:15 pm         

Raleigh becomes 15th county to adopt Project Lifesaver

Tracking devices will be used to find cognitively disabled people who get lost

Search and rescue operations are always tense — especially when the missing people are some of the most vulnerable.

Now, Raleigh County authorities have taken the first major step in implementing a new system that can track down some of these people in minutes instead of hours.

Raleigh became the state’s 15th county to become a part of Project Lifesaver Tuesday. It is a search and rescue system using personalized radio transmitters and electronic tracking equipment to find people with cognitive disabilities like Alzheimer’s disease and autism. People with these types of disorders tend to wander off and become confused.

Sue Patalano, project administrator for the Wood County Sheriff’s Department — the state’s Project Lifesaver coordinator — said Raleigh County has 2,212 people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and 528 diagnosed with autism. Both she and Wood County sheriff’s Capt. Mark E. King trained Raleigh County sheriff’s Detective Dave Stafford and Sgt. J.B. Miller Tuesday.

Clients of the program wear bracelets on either their wrists or ankles that have a transmitter attached, Patalano explained. That transmitter — and person — have a unique frequency. If the client is reported missing, trained personnel can use a hand-held receiver and one of two different types of antennas to determine that person’s distance and direction.

If the missing person is not found, Raleigh County authorities can also call out the Wood County Sheriff’s Department’s helicopter crew, Patalano said.

The clients’ caregivers will likely only pay a $10 fee, Patalano said. They must check the battery’s power every day and record that testing on a log. They must notify the Raleigh County Emergency Operations Center if the battery is lost, report any maintenance problems and change the batteries once a month.

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Since the program’s nationwide beginning, 1,700 people have been rescued, Patalano said. The average rescue takes less than a half hour. No program client has been killed or seriously injured as a result of being lost.

Project Lifesaver could also save taxpayer dollars, according to Patalano. Without the devices, the average missing Alzheimer’s patient is lost for about nine hours, and a search and rescue operation would cost $1,500. The search and rescue operation for a young autistic man in Dolly Sods late last year cost more than $100,000.

Patalano noted John and Elizabeth Raese, owners of Greer Industries in Morgantown, have donated $300,000 toward startup equipment for multiple West Virginia counties. That includes the $6,000 for Raleigh County’s two receivers, two portable antennas, two cruiser antennas, two headsets to block out any background noise, two portable and wall chargers and two transmitters.

The goal is to have all 55 counties be a part of Project Lifesaver by 2012, Patalano said.

Stafford and Miller underwent the required 18 hours of training to use the equipment, and they will be trained for an additional eight hours to be instructors, Patalano said. Afterward, they will be able to train other deputies in-house. Raleigh County’s only cost was Patalano and King’s meals and lodging.

Stafford said the project will not be ready for public launch for at least three months, and eligibility requirements are yet to be determined. Nevertheless, both he and Miller believe the program will be a great help for law enforcement and the public. They also had high praise for the Raeses, plus the Raleigh County Commission and Dr. Judd Lindley for taking steps to implement the program.

“This program will help us help the citizens — the ones who are in need because their loved ones are lost,” Stafford said. “I feel that the county commission and the sheriff’s office have both taken steps in the right direction to support the community and its needs.”

Those with questions about the project can call the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department at 304-255-9300.

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