What Is Project Lifesaver?
Project Lifesaver is a national proactive, electronic tracking, program used to assist in locating people with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders or children with Down’s Syndrome or Autism Spectrum Disorder that wander from home and become lost.
A lost child with Autism or Downs Syndrome or an adult wandering from dementia constitutes a critical emergency and present challenges to police in searching and rescue operations. While we cannot predict when a person will become lost, we can prepare.
The Virginia Beach Police Department in partnership with Project Lifesaver has launched a planned response to all missing persons at-risk and others with special needs that wander off. We have teams of trained officers and special tracking equipment to help locate missing persons who are enrolled in Project Lifesaver. Our department is the first major city police department in the country to take on this effort.
Having a child or other loved one wander off is an extremely dangerous and scary situation. All too often we read of unhappy endings to these events.
Fortunately, we have the technology to immediately respond and quickly locate the wandering individual. What a livesaver this is!
Hopefully, more people will become aware of this life-saving program, and enroll their loved ones. Pass the word!
By: Karen Rayfield on August 5, 2009
at 6:56 pm