When a Shoreline resident recently wandered away from his home, King County Sheriff’s deputy Peter Linde went to work trying to find him.
A radio signal from a one-ounce electronic bracelet worn by the resident helped Linde find him and escort him safely back to his caregiver.
“We knew he was familiar with the bus system and we knew of a former address in Seattle,” Linde said during a presentation at the Cristwood retirement community on the CRISTA campus Jan. 14. “I started checking bus routes and caught a signal just as I saw a bus heading south. I guess I got lucky but we got him home.”
King County Project Lifesaver is designed for adults and children who have a tendency to wander away and may be unable to communicate or remember their way home due to the affects of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, Downs Syndrome, Autism, Prader-Willi or traumatic brain injury. Participants register for the program and a trained team within the King County Volunteer Search and Rescue unit will conduct a search for the missing person under the direction of the Sheriff’s Office.
The county-wide program is one of two similar programs available to Shoreline residents, according to Shoreline police officer Leona Obstler. Six Shoreline residents have enrolled in Shoreline’s free Memory Impaired Assistance Program (MIAP) since it began in November 2007. Officers Obstler and Greg McKinney hope to register more participants throughout the program’s second year.
“It’s a tool to help law enforcement bring back family members,” McKinney said.
Often police officers have few ways to identify people who become lost and fewer options still if someone is unconscious, he said. If a person is registered through the MIAP and becomes lost, a healthcare provider or a family member informs an emergency call receiver of the resident’s ID number. When the resident is found, the officer will look that they are wearing a latex bracelet with an ID number that can identify the resident.
Although the MIAP is free, residents enrolled in Project Lifesaver pay a $165 starting fee and $15 per month for a bracelet that emits a radio signal from up to a mile radius.
Residents who are interested in the MIAP can register by calling one of two Shoreline Police Department Neighborhood Centers. The participant will receive their wristband upon completion of a registration form and a digital photo of the participant will also be taken at the time of registration.
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