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Project Lifesaver was implemented in 2002

at the Lynchburg Sheriff's Office

We wanted to offer this to the citizens

of Lynchberg to give the caregivers

and family members peace of mind that

their loved ones can be found quickly

Well I was a police officer in Chesapeake

Virginia for 33 years

One of my jobs was commanding officer of

special operations which was

SWAT and search and rescue.

We were having a lot of recurring searches

for Alzheimer's patients that had wandered

and frankly we weren't doing a very

good job of finding them.

And I really was getting a little tired

and disheartened about

having to tell families that we were

discontinuing the search or worse, that we

had found them however

Project Lifesaver, number one is a tool to

help public safety personnel locate people

that have a condition that would cause

them to wander.

It's not just equipment,

that's the big thing

We're not just a vendor or something,

we're a programme.

We have had 92 successful searches

its a great feeling, its a great peace of

mind for families and citizens of

Lynchburg. We enjoy getting to know the

families and building reports with

them, so it really hits home when one

wanders and you know more about them

you have a bond with the family and

the child or the adult.

My fervent hope was to be able to find

something that would help us in,

making these searches more successful.

I came across some information about

wildlife tracking,

and a thought occurred to me.

If we can do this with wildlife,

why can't we do it with people?

So, I was able to contact a company,

get them to work with me

and develop a transmitter that

could be put on a person's arm.

And that was the start of

Project Lifesaver.

Our passion, our desire.

We think Project Lifesaver,

the Lynchburg Project

Lifesaver program, is our premier

community service program here in the

city of Lynchberg.

We provide it now

at no cost to those that cannot afford it

through an annual fundraiser and so,

but, again the goal behind that is

when we bring that individual back home,

safely and historically with our 92 all

within thirty minutes or less.

The emotion that we feel, the

satisfaction that we have done our job

and done it well, with the assistance of

this technology.

You can't put a price on that because

someone's life, someone's loved one

is brought home and

it makes a difference.

I tell people when you work for

Project Lifesaver International,

it's not a job, it's a way of life.

And you adapt yourself to it.

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I'm not getting a signal.

We're going to have to call in the drone.

I used to describe it and still do as when

you're searching for somebody and you

don't anything like this to help you, you

are actually doing a swag search.

And people say, 'Well what's a swag?'

I said , it's a scientific wildass guess.

Before Project Lifesaver

you didn't have any resources

but

individuals.

When we first started the program,

I mean it was very bare basics.

You know we had the receiver,

we had the transmitter.

And they were pretty,

bare.

I mean it was just,

it was a, something had never

been done before, so we were doing what

we could with what we had.

The new hat tracking equipment that

could assist with you,

assist with the search,

narrow it down, make it a little faster,

give that extra peace of mind

to caregivers.

Of course when the Project Lifesaver came

to Lynchburg Sheriff's Office we

had basic receivers that we used and in

fact our first rescue we used those

receivers and saved a ninety-two year-old

lady that had wandered from a nursing home

Using that equipment she was located

in eight minutes and she would not have

made it until morning, it was in December

and all she had on was a house coat.

I kept feeling, well we,

we need to be stepping ahead.

We need to improve all the time.

We need to make it easier

for the agencies, easier for the people.

Give them more,

more that they can work with.

Then you're actually able to extend

that

through air searches.

Which was wonderful

but the availability of getting

a helicopter in a timely manner

and getting someone available to fly the

helicopter, you're having to depend on

other people and other departments and

other resources.

Helicopters are great, I love ' em.

However, they're expensive

and when you need 'em

sometimes you can't get 'em.

Maintenance issues, weather issues,

crew issues.

And even if you can get it,

you're thirty to forty-five minutes

and sometimes an hour away

from it arriving on scene.

Where with the drone, if you had that

you could just implement the search right

there, you don't have to depend on

getting an outside agency to come in

and start your search.

Here's something you can have

in the trunk of the car

and it gives you what a helicopter would

give you and it gives it to you

much quicker, much cheaper.

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I was on a search and rescue at one point

and the individual, he had autism,

and he had wandered, and he had

actually gone on his bicycle.

So we do not know how far

he had gotten at that point,

we weren't getting a signal from

his last known location, so of course we

had to spread out our perimeter.

But we live in a very hilly city,

there's tons of hills, low dips, creeks,

and he had actually gotten along a creek

line and was just gunning it!

I mean he had gotten miles from home,

quickly,

I mean he was a young boy. So,

with having just the

ground units, it made it difficult.

The average Alzheimer's search lasts

nine hours. The average cost is fifteen

hundred dollars an hour.

You factor that into

you can search with this equipment

and in thirty minutes find this person,

this program is already paid for itself

and much cheaper than you would have by

launching this massive search.

Lynchberg Project Lifesaver,

Project Lifesaver International

delivers exactly what it says.

You know Project Lifesaver is just

wonderful and it gives that extra peace

of mind to the family members.

I have made the statement that if it was

just one person, that we were able to go

out and bring home safely,

this program would be worth it.

I think a lot of people don't realize

how big this problem is and if you don't

think it's a big problem,

pick up a newspaper,

go on Facebook and look at all

the searches for people that have

wandered off

and not been found.

Listen. We've got NAFRA action reports

Where it was plainly stated

had not been for Project Lifesaver

we would not have found this person.

For different reasons.

You know. I think it's, it's,

it's simple.

If we had a funding source

we could do it for everybody.

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Female Officer - Dylan?

Dylan - Yeah.

Officer - Hi. I'm Sergeant Rodgers.

Are you doing OK?

Dylan - Yeah.

Rodgers - So you're OK?

Dylan - Yeah.

Rodgers - You're Mamma's worried about you

Did you wander away?

Did you get a little bit lost?

OK. Well we need to take you back

to your mom's so she won't worry.

OK? I'm glad you're OK

[INAUDIABLE]

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- Roger. Subject located.

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