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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
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- Roger. Subject located.
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