In The News...

World Alzheimer's Day - September 20th

One out of five baby boomers will be diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease or a related Dementia. Join me; Chris Uszynski, in saying "thank you" to ALL caregivers in an 80-k run. We're looking for corporate relay teams of 9 runners. All money raised goes to the local Alzheimer Society of Windsor and Essex County programs.

Join us at http://www.alzheimerwindsor.com

5th Annual Project Lifesaver International Conference

Scheduled for June 16th-20th, 2008 in Lynchburg, Virginia. The conference is being hosted by Sheriff Ron Gillespie and the Lynchburg Sheriff's Office. In addition to top-notch conference sessions, pre-conference training will be offered for the first time on June 16th and 17th, covering;
- Basic Operators Course
- Instructors Course
- Airborne Certification Course
- Alzheimer's Train-the-Trainer Course

For more information please visit:
http://www.projectlifesaver.org

Project Lifesaver Chapter Launched in Essex -
Tracking device intended for kids with autism, Down's syndrome.
Windsor Star
Friday, July 22, 2005 -- Natalie Miller

Windsor-area parents and caregivers of children with autism or Down syndrome will soon be able to purchase a tracking device that helps authorities locate their loved ones if they wander.

Ontario’s first Project Lifesaver chapter was launched recently in Essex County and it is administered by the OPP in that area. Project Lifesaver uses tracking device technology and a specially-trained search and rescue team to locate missing people.

A personalized bracelet, that looks like a watch, is worn by the person and emits a tracking signal. If the child bolts, police are called and the child’s Project Lifesaver status and frequency number are provided by the caregiver. There are 1,190 success stories about Project Lifesaver, which now exists in 41 states. According to literature, search times have been reduced from hours and days to minutes.

Doreen Broadbent, director of operations for the Essex County Chapter of Project Lifesaver, says there is a need for this technology in her community. The wheels began turning when an OPP officer looked at purchasing a tracking device for her live-in grandmother who has Alzheimer disease. The constable shared her story with Doreen, who is a long-time volunteer with the provincial police.

“If she needs it, we knew there were others in her situation,” Doreen explains.

According to information she received from Autism Society Ontario’s Windsor chapter, there are 175 registered children with autism in Windsor. According to information from the Alzheimer Society, when the baby boomers hit 80, one in three will have the disease. More than 5,029 people in Windsor and Essex County alone are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or other related dementia.

The group determined to bring Project Lifesaver to Essex applied for a Safer Communities grant but was turned down. Doreen and her husband were vacationing in Virginia last summer, where Project Lifesaver was created.

“We were amazed at the technology,” she says.

“We couldn’t see why this wasn’t in Canada. There is a need.”

She shared her research with Inspector Rick Derus of the OPP’s Essex Detachment. They then traveled in May to the Project Lifesaver conference in Massachusetts. They heard several teary-eyed success stories from various sheriff departments.

“We came back and Inspector Rick Derus said, ‘we’re going to do it.’” They contacted community organizations and agencies, MPs and MPPs and arranged for Project Lifesaver to provide four days of training for provincial police officers around the province, including Sergeant Don Webster of the Emergency Response Program at OPP headquarters in Orillia. There are now seven provincial trainers.

In addition to training in the technology, members of the Project Lifesaver team are trained in the methods to communicate with a person who has Alzheimer disease or a related disorder. The Project Lifesaver team knows how to approach the person, gain his or her trust and put the person at ease for the trip home, literature from the chapter says. Regular contact with those wearing the Project Lifesaver bracelet and their family members helps nurture that relationship, says Doreen.

“We’re in the OPP test phase,” Doreen says, noting the test market is strictly for the OPP. She explains OPP are smoothing out systems to make sure everything is in place before the bracelets are distributed, likely by the end of August or early September.

The program will be piloted in Essex for several months with the hope of expanding it across Ontario, with an eventual goal of making Project Lifesaver North-American wide, says Doreen.

Project Lifesaver depends on community support. Funding for the not-for-profit organization comes from private donations, corporations, charitable foundations and community partners.

The bracelet, accompanying equipment and the monthly fee for the first year is about $1,000. After the first year, the fee is $35 per month. Families who cannot afford the bracelet may be eligible for financial assistance.