Bergen County Sheriff’s Office: Project Lifesaver-Bringing loved ones home safely.

http://www.bcsd.us

The Bergen County Sheriff’s Office is proud to participate in Project Lifesaver International, which helps provide rapid response to save lives and reduce the potential for serious injury for adults and children who wander due to Alzheimer’s, Autism, Down Syndrome, dementia and other related disorders.

Project Lifesaver has more than 1,100 participating agencies across the U.S., Canada and Australia and is implemented in every county in New Jersey by local Sheriff’s offices. As the lead agency in Bergen County, the BSCO is trained and equipped to deploy members of the Sheriff’s Office to assist local police agencies in locating individuals who may wander from home and become lost due to confusion and memory loss.

How Project Lifesaver Works:

Participants in the program are fitted with a one-ounce, battery-operated radio wrist transmitter that emits a silent tracking signal every second, 24-hours-a-day. The signal can be tracked on the ground or in the air from several miles.

Each wristband has a unique frequency, so the BSCO’s Project Lifesaver team can positively locate and identify a person who has wandered away from home using a specially designed radio receiver.

If a participant wanders off, the caregiver would first contact his or her local police, who would then initiate a search while contacting the Sheriff’s Office. A team of specially trained officers from the Sheriff’s Office would respond and search, utilizing the electronic tracking equipment.

The team is trained in methods necessary to communicate with a person who has Alzheimer’s, Autism, Down Syndrome or a related disorder. The team knows how to approach a disoriented person, gain their trust and put them at ease for the trip home.

Project Lifesaver was established in 1999 by the Chesapeake, Virginia, Sheriff’s Office. The program has rescued more than 2,143 people in the last 10 years with a 100 percent success rate. In areas where the system has been used, search times have been greatly reduced, which can mean the difference between life and death. The average rescue is less than 20 minutes and the program has saved many hundreds of hours of search time and public resources.

If you are a caregiver of an individual with Alzheimer’s, Autism, Down Syndrome or a related disorder and are interested in applying for Project Lifesaver:

*Please call the BCSO’s Community Outreach Unit at (201) 336-3540 to request an application.

Participation Criteria:

*Participants must be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Autism, Down Syndrome, dementia or a related disorder.

*Participants must live in Bergen County in a private residence with a 24-hour, live-in caregiver.

*There is a one-time equipment fee of $300 for the wrist transmitter, band, battery, clips and battery tester. Income-eligible participants may qualify for a waiver of the initial equipment fee.

*A monthly maintenance fee of $13 covers the cost of the bracelet and battery.

*The wrist transmitter remains the property of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office. Once the individual is no longer utilizing the unit, it is returned and reassigned to another participant in the program.

*An officer from the Sheriff’s Office will schedule an appointment to attach the wristband unit and train a caregiver in how the equipment works.

Project Lifesaver is made possible through the cooperative effort and support of the:

Office of the Sheriff of Bergen County, NJ, Bergen County Police Chief’s Association and the County of Bergen.

Please call the BCSO’s Community Outreach Unit at (201) 336-3540 for details.

Bergen County Sheriff’s Office

24-hour Operations Division (201) 646-2222

Community Outreach Unit (201) 336-3540

Bergen County Justice Center

10 Main Street

Hackensack, NJ 07601

(201) 336-3500

Fax: (201) 752-4164

Bergen County Jail

160 South River Street

Hackensack, NJ  07601

Phone: (201) 527-3000

Fax: (201) 527-3035

*Disclaimer: This information was taken directly from The Bergen County Sheriff’s Office pamphlet. I have never used the service so I have no opinion either yes or no on the program. Please call or email the above numbers for more information.