PORT ANGELES — The rescue of a 76-year-old man who had wandered away from an assisted living facility illustrates the value of Project Lifesaver, police said.
Yet only 13 people have registered for the program in Clallam County. Jefferson County has seven active clients.
The service is designed to track people with cognitive disabilities — such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, autism or Down syndrome — who tend to wander.
The rescued man, who has not been publicly identified, was found safe by law enforcement the night of April 24 about one block from the facility in Port Angeles where he lives.
According to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, nine people are signed up for the program countywide, with four more signed up through the Sequim Police Department.
“I would like to get more people that need it signed up,” said Bill Hegarty, a 10-year member of the Sequim Police Department’s Volunteers in Police Service Program, which manages Project Lifesaver in the Sequim area.
Since the Police Department implemented the program in early 2008, “we have had as many as 20, but for a number of reasons, people drop out,” Hegarty said.
The Sheriff’s Office began using the system in 2009 and offers the program to residents in Forks, Port Angeles and unincorporated communities.
There are no residents on the West End currently registered. Deputies there are trained to use the program if anyone does sign up.
“Primarily, we will want people with Alzheimer’s or children that have various diseases and conditions that have them run off,” said Sheriff’s Office Patrol Sgt. John Hollis.
“We’d like to get them signed up and get a wristband on them, a transmitter for their safety.”
The program is also offered to residents in Jefferson County through the Sheriff’s Office.
“I received a grant approximately four years ago . . . to begin the program in Jefferson County,” said Deputy Patrick Nicholson.
“Several deputies are trained as technicians, and we are partnered with Jefferson Search and Rescue. We have three receiver kits placed around the county.”
So far, one search using the program has occurred in Jefferson County, Nicholson said.
“That search was two years ago and was a success. The person was located by Port Townsend police as we deployed our searchers.”
Family members, guardians or caregivers of at-risk individuals in Clallam County can enroll the person into the program for a one-time fee of $50.
There is no fee for residents in Jefferson County.
The application form is lengthy, requiring detailed medical and patient information.
Once signed up, the individual is given a wristband about the size of a wristwatch that contains a watch battery and a homing device.
“It is a short-range, high-frequency radio locating system,” Hegarty said.
“Each one of our clients is assigned a separate frequency so if they are reported as being lost or wandering, we can take a transmitter and a receiver out and dial in” the unique frequency assigned to each person.
This allows the rescuers to “differentiate from other clients that may be in an area,” Hegarty said.
Last month’s successful search highlights the importance of the program, said Clallam County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Matt Murphy, who helped locate the man using the tracking device.
“The overall goal for the project is just to be able to return the loved ones back to where they belong, back to their homes and back to their facilities.”
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office received a call at about 7:43 p.m. that a resident of Peninsula Manor had gone missing.
Deputies found that he was registered with Project Lifesaver, and at 7:55 p.m., Murphy arrived in the area with Project Lifesaver equipment designed to track the radio frequency on the client’s transmitter.
Working with Port Angeles Police Officers Josh Powless and Lucas DeGand, Murphy found the man at 8:03 p.m.
He had walked through a wooded section and arrived at a home. The homeowners were calling emergency dispatchers to report finding the man at their back door when Murphy and the police officers arrived.
Finding the man “was awesome,” Murphy said.
“By the time that I got there, it was less than 10 minutes when we located him, and it is a feeling of satisfaction.”
Quick reporting by the man’s caregivers was essential, Hegarty said.
“One of the requirements is that because of the short range” of the tracking equipment, “it is really important that we get on it quick.”
The range for the antenna mounted on a vehicle is about a quarter of a mile, or about two to three city blocks.
For more information about the Project Lifesaver program in Clallam County, contact the Sheriff’s Office at 360-417-2262 or http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Clallamprojectlifesaver or the Sequim Police Department at 360-683-7227 or http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Sequimprojectlifesaver.
For more information about the Project Lifesaver program in Jefferson County, call 360-344-9779 or email projectlifesaver@co.jefferson.wa.us.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.