Project Lifesaver
Project Lifesaver is a new safety initiative—the first of its kind in New Jersey—in which families with an autistic child are given a special radio transmitter that police can use to help find a child if he or she becomes lost. The program wil be expanded to more counties across New Jersey if it is successful. As reported in today’s NorthJersey.com.
In the event a child becomes lost, parents contact local police who, in turn, call the sheriff’s office. Two specially trained officers then respond with a kit that includes tracking equipment and a file with a recent photo, address, emergency contact information and key phrases the youngster might respond to. Local police and school officials have copies of the file, as well.
“Unfortunately there have been horror stories of finding kids [dead] and abductions,” said Bergen County sheriff’s Sgt. John Calabrese. “We hope to prevent that from happening.
Here are a few numbers on Project Lifesaver:
- Special needs children found to date: 66
- Average location time: 22 minutes
- Percentage of donated equipment: 96%
- Number of police agencies with the devices: 325 departments in 37 states
Project Lifesaver indeed sounds like a great, and a necessary, idea. But I would like to know more about those 66 “special needs children” found through it—-where and how did they become lost?
11 opinions for Project Lifesaver
zilari
Jun 30, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Hmm.
In some ways this sounds like a good idea — such as in the case of potential abductions. However, I can also conceivably see this technology being misused — in the sense that what if an autistic person were attempting to escape from an abusive situation? They wouldn’t be able to hide.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 30, 2006 at 6:21 pm
They’ve started the program in some towns with parents I’m in email list contact with—–parents are mostly thinking of children gone missing and lost, not the latter. Adds much more to think about.
Junior
Jun 30, 2006 at 6:22 pm
“But I would like to know more about those 66 “special needs children” found through it—-where and how did they become lost?”
I’m not sure what you mean by this question.
My 6yo son wears a Project Lifesaver monitor and I am grateful he does. He loves to run, and he will do so in a second and not look back. He also does not seem to understand danger, like cars, high places, water, cold weather, etc.
My son will run through out the front door at any opportunity. We keep it locked, but if anyone is going in or out, like his siblings or neighborhood children visiting, he sees an opportunity and off he goes, and then off we go chasing him down the street. (Fortunately we live on a very low traffic street.) We are hypersensitive to door openings, but we are afraid that there may be a time when we are not quick enough.
We are grateful for the Project Lifesaver monitor, we would be devastated if anything happened to our son. I have been haunted by the story of a PA boy with autism who was missing and then found dead. Link to story: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13601614&BRD=2212&PAG=461&dept_id=465812&rfi=6
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 30, 2006 at 6:25 pm
Junior, thanks so much for sharing about your son. I was wondering if the statistic meant that 66 special needs children have been lost? Or does the transmitter go off whenever your son goes out the front door?
Junior
Jun 30, 2006 at 6:41 pm
Unfortunately no, the transmitter does not go off when my son goes out the front door. If he did go out and we couldn’t find him in a short period of time, 5-10 mins at most, we would call the sheriff’s dept and they would come with the equipment to locate him.
They can locate him up to a mile away from the locating device, or up to 5 miles away via helicopter. The sheriff told me that if they don’t find him within 20 minutes, then they will get the helicopter.
It is possible to buy a Perimeter system for your home that works with the Project Lifesaver monitor that would alarm anytime the individual wearing the monitor goes outside a set perimeter. You also would have locating device of your own with that system. However, the last time I checked this system cost in the thousands of dollars. Even so, we still may make that investment in the near future.
Project Lifesaver Fact Sheet (not sure when this was written)
http://www.caretrak.com/lifesaver/facts.php
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 30, 2006 at 7:01 pm
Thanks, Junior. We have a chime that goes off whenever the front or back doors open—-it was not installed with an autistic child in mind, but is certainly not unhelpful.
Junior
Jul 1, 2006 at 1:00 pm
I need to look into door alarms more. I bought some at WalMart but they weren’t really loud enough. I need to get one that I can hear throughout the house.
David
Aug 3, 2006 at 6:44 am
Dear Kristina Chew,
Have you contacted Project Lifesaver Int’l in Chesapeak, VA regarding the statistics on the 66 children with Autism who have been located?
As I understand it, each Project Lifesaver Agency submits an After Action report back to Project Lifesaver Int’l with a narrative of what, when, how, where the wandering incident occurred.
PS - keep in mind that Project Lifesaver first responders only use the locating technology for missing clients. In other words, if you’re not missing, the police are not looking for you.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Aug 3, 2006 at 8:14 am
David, thanks for the suggestion—I will look into it.
Scott White
Mar 7, 2007 at 2:21 pm
I know this is an old post, but if you would like to start a dialog about Project Lifesaver, let me know. I am a first responder trained with the equipment and uses. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
I can be reached via email at scottsmorningbrew at gmail dot com.
Scott
Soccer4ever
May 5, 2007 at 10:04 am
How many states have project lifesaver and what are they doing to raise awareness about the program?
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