LYNNWOOD – Jeri Elslip can breathe a little easier thanks to her mother’s new bracelet.
Elslip, of Lynnwood, enrolled her mother in the Lynnwood Police Department’s Memory Impairment Assistance Program during a public bracelet-banding event Saturday.
The program, designed to assist Lynnwood residents who experience memory loss, helps police find people who can wander off and become lost, police spokeswoman Shannon Sessions said.
Participants are photographed and given plastic identification bracelets. The bracelets instruct others to call 911 if the wearer is lost.
“If she does get out, they will know,” Elslip said of her mother. “I feel so much better about it.”
Saturday’s banding was held at Alterra Clare Bridge, an assisted-living center in Lynnwood for people with memory impairment.
Alterra community sales representative Neil Edwards said the bracelets are useful, even for people in secure care centers.
“There are times loved ones take family members out on trips,” he said, “and then it’s a different story.”
Enrolling is also worthwhile for people who refuse to wear the ID bracelets.
A Lynnwood man who wouldn’t wear his bracelet was found after he got lost, fell and injured himself, Sessions said. Police were able to determine who the man was after his wife called 911 and gave dispatchers his ID number, she said.
The bracelets reveal no personal information that could bring harm to those who wear them, Sessions said.
“We’ve already found that it works,” Sessions said. “If nothing else, it doesn’t hurt to do it.”
The program is also useful for the young. Autistic children and people on certain medications could benefit from the service, Sessions said.
Anyone interested in joining the program can call Sessions at 425-744-6938.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
