News

June 19, 2012

Steuben County (WENY) - State of the art technology could help police
find, and ultimately save the lives of people who wander off. The Steuben
County Sheriff unveiled a new program called "Project Lifesaver." It uses wristband tracking devices to find people with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, autism and down syndrome who might wander off and lose their way home.

"Project Lifesaver" is a issue that hits close to home with Steuben County
Sheriff Joel Ordway .

"My own personal connection to Alzheimer, my mother and mother in law, and
then knowing autistic children and going out and looking for autistic children for me it was a no brainier."

People with alzheimer's or autism sometimes get lost. These transmitters will help police to find them quickly, scanning up to a mile on the ground, and five to seven miles from a helicopter.

"Right now I feel very confident with our tools, it's modern equipment
modern technology I think this will be very successful," says Ordway.

The Steuben County Sheriff's Office is one of 50 departments that got a
start up grant for project life saver. Families will have to pay a $300 set
up fee, and $10 a month, but can you put a price tag on peace of mind?

Patty Baroody from the Office of Aging in Steuben County says families will
definitely use this technology.

"Certainly autistic children and people with dementia are very vulnerable a
lot of times they don't answer when you call their names so using technology
to help us in our work is a wonderful thing."

Project lifesaver is used in 46 states, average rescue time is 30 minutes.