Sheriff's office using technology to track missing Alzheimer's patients

The Weber County Sheriff's Office has trained its personnel to use a program designed to find missing people suffering from neurological illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease.

Project Lifesaver, an international program based in Virginia, uses bracelets that emit an electronic signal to locate patients when they wander away from their caregivers.

Jackie Sanson, a Utah State University senior taking courses at Weber State University, said Project Lifesaver might have eliminated the need for the measures she and her husband installed in their Roy, Utah, home to prevent her mother from wandering off, including alarmed doors, closed-circuit television and motion detectors.

"I think that you will see two situations with this program," she said. "Some people will be in denial and say, 'I can handle this; I can deal with my family member.' Other people will say, 'Finally,' expressing a feeling of relief."

Sanson's 83-year-old mother, Eugenia Hart, has had Alzheimer's disease for at least 12 years. Sanson has been caring for her mother since her father died eight years ago.

"I don't consider her a burden," the ornamental horticulture major said. "She's my mom."

Hart is now almost completely blind, her walk reduced to an assisted shuffle, but that was not always the case.

"My mom would wander down to the neighbor's three times a week," Sanson said. "One time we found her standing right next to a backhoe that was digging up a water line."

Gene Saunders, the executive director of Project Lifesaver's national chapter and chief of the Chesapeake County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue unit, said the program's growth has been astonishing.

"It started as a local initiative in Chesapeake County, Virginia, about five years ago," he said.

"Now I feel like I've got a tiger by the tail, and if I let go, I'll get eaten."

Saunders said Project Lifesaver is based on the same technology used for years by biologists to track migrating animals. The program is currently used by 228 agencies nationwide.

"We use radio direction in finding the bracelets," he said. "Each bracelet transmits a personalized signal that has a one-mile range on the ground or a five-mile range if the search is conducted from the air."

The Weber County Sheriff's Office is the only agency in Utah currently enrolled in the program. Selected deputies and volunteers on the county's search-and-rescue team underwent at least 18 hours of training from Project Lifesaver instructors two weeks ago in Ogden.

"There are five of us that were trained as instructors," said Weber County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Lt. Jeff Malan. "There are also 10 more deputies that have been through the program, mostly patrol sergeants."

Project Lifesaver's $25-a-month fee pays for replacement of the bracelet, which must be cut off every month to change the lithium battery that powers the system. The sheriff's office is looking to recruit and train a group of volunteers to change the batteries.

The program is currently offered only to residents of Weber County; however, Malan believes that other sheriff's offices in Utah will adopt Project Lifesaver.

"[Project Lifesaver] is endorsed by the National Sheriff's Association, for one thing, so a lot of sheriffs are aware of the program and have expressed interest in it," Malan said.

"It's a good, cheap program for people who are worried about Alzheimer's patients who wander."

Malan expects Project Lifesaver to be operational in Weber County within the next two months. Anyone interested in Project Lifesaver can contact Lt. Jeff Malan at 778-6914.

You can reach reporter Geoff Leisik by calling 626-7655.