New solution for an old problem

High-tech devices track the missing

If a loved one has a cognitive disorder like Alzheimer’s, you know about the high risk of wandering and how every minute counts when you notice that person is missing.

What you may not know is that a growing number of South Florida police departments have patient tracking programs equipped with the latest technology that can cut back hours of searching to about 30 minutes.

Families can purchase or lease a next-generation transmitter that emits radio frequency signals and resembles a watch or bracelet. The device is worn on the wrist or ankle.

In the event the pa--

tient goes missing, the caregiver immediately calls the police, who have receiving equipment that can track the signal beamed by the transmitter. Searchers can track the wanderer on foot, in a patrol car or by helicopter.

Instead of global positioning systems that use satellite signals, these transmitters continue communicating the wearer’s position even if the person is in a building, in a deeply wooded area or underwater. That is crucial, because about half of cognitive patients who wander will be found injured or dead if they are not located within the first 24 hours, experts say.

“There is always something new coming up when it comes to technology that can help us find these people,” said Linda Boucher, executive director of Lost and Found of Palm Beach County Inc. The nonprofit works with law enforcement and service agencies to promote efficient searches and provides transmitters to families at a discount or free.

South Florida has two main tracking organizations that work with local police: SafetyNet Tracking Systems and Project Lifesaver International. Between the two organizations, most of South Florida’s law enforcement agencies now have patient transmitter programs, including the sheriff’s offices in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.

The programs can cost caregivers hundreds of dollars, between the device and monthly fees. However, some law enforcement agencies in the past month received federal grants to purchase transmitters for needy families.

The Broward Sheriff ’s Office said its U.S. Department of Justice grant will allow them to purchase about 100 transmitters, which will be given to caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients. The Fort Lauderdale Police Department also this month purchased 10 transmitters with its federal grant money to give to city residents. Detective Nick Bruce, who manages the program, said they will be distributed based on economic need and the patient’s wandering risk. “We want to target folks who can’t afford to supply these to their loved ones,” Bruce said.

The Sheriff’s Office and Fort Lauderdale Police Department both work with SafetyNet Tracking Systems, which is an independent for-profit company based in Boston that was formerly owned by auto theft deterrent manufacturer LoJack.

Alzheimer’s Community Care, a nonprofit based in West Palm Beach that provides services like day care and caregiver support, credits a SafetyNet device with saving one of its patients in St. Lucie County earlier this month.

“He had injured his ankle and had fallen down among a bunch of boulders in a drainage area,” said Paula M. Menigoz, the agency’s ID locator project manager. “If he had not been wearing his bracelet, they never would have found him and he would have died.”

While patient-tracking efforts initially targeted elders with dementia, police say there’s increasing interest among families caring for children or young adults with autism, Asperger’s and similar disorders. Like seniors, these young patients wander and often are attracted to water, putting them at risk of drowning.

“I had one mother who cried when she called me, saying she thought she never would be able to take her daughter to Disney World because of her wandering,” said Deputy Kari Pallotto, a Broward Sheriff’s Office crime prevention practitioner stationed in Weston, though she helps coordinate SafetyNet in other districts.

In Weston, the majority of people registered with the Broward Sheriff’s Office transmitter program are autism patients, she said.

Every family dealing with a wandering relative should find out whether their local police departments use a tracking system, Pallotto said.

SafetyNet and Project Lifesaver have roots in the search-and-rescue community, being founded or headed by former police officers. Both companies sell to private individuals, as well as to long-term care facilities, police departments and social service agencies.

Project Lifesaver, founded in 1998 to develop better ways to recover missing Alzheimer’s patients, is in 1,600 agencies across 50 states, said Joseph Salenetri, assistant chief of special operations.

SafetyNet President and CEO Scott Martin said the technology can save public safety agencies big money by helping officers find people quickly. Public safety experts say an average search costs $1,500 an hour and runs for about nine hours.

Martin said he is partnering with 230 agencies in 18 states.

SafetyNet is one of Alzheimer’s Community Care’s fastest-growing programs, said President and CEO Mary Barnes. The agency, which had about 75 transmitters when it started the partnership four years ago, now has 170 transmitters that it distributes to their clients in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties.

Even when a patient has no transmitter, Barnes said it’s crucial that caregivers call law enforcement the minute they notice someone is missing.

“The officers don’t care if they respond and find the patient hiding in your closet,” she said. “Don’t waste time driving around looking for your family member, or talking to your neighbors.”

A SafetyNet Tracking Systems bracelet