If you take care of someone with a cognitive disorder, you probably worry about that loved one wandering off and getting lost.
But, the Jefferson County Health Department and the Sheriff’s Office are working together to help ease that worry.
The agencies are partnering up to apply for grants to fund Project Lifesaver, which would provide caregivers and law enforcement and fire and rescue agencies across the county with a better way to keep track of people with cognitive problems, like dementia, autism, down syndrome and even traumatic brain injuries.
Jaclyn Brown, the health network coordinator for the Jefferson County Health Department, said the agencies plan to apply to the Jefferson Foundation for a grant between $75,000 and $100,000 to buy the technology needed to track someone who wanders off.
She also said other grant opportunities are being looked at.
The funding would allow the agencies to buy 100 transmitters, 10 receivers and a year of batteries for the transmitters, Brown said.
People enrolled in the program would wear a radio transmitter on their wrist or ankle.
Each transmitter would have a unique frequency that could be picked up by a receiver from as far as 2 miles away.
Cpl. Jason Clardy of the Sheriff’s Office said it can take a lot of time and personnel to find a missing person, so the program would be a big plus.
“(The Lifesaver Program) will let us pinpoint the direction we need to start going so that limits a lot of wasted time, manpower,” he said. “It’s a no-brainer for us.”
The program has a 100% success rate, and it takes an average of 30 minutes to find someone using the technology, said Engineer John Barton of the High Ridge Fire Protection District, which has participated in the program since 2014.
Currently, High Ridge Fire has seven people enrolled in the program. Those enrollees are from around the High Ridge, Cedar Hill, Fenton and Pacific areas, Barton said.
He said he knows firsthand how the program can give caregivers peace of mind because one of his family members is enrolled in the program.
Project Lifesaver was brought to the area by the Tri-County Training Consortium, which includes the High Ridge, Cedar Hill, Fenton, Eureka, Pacific, Valley Park, Des Peres, Crestwood and Kirkwood fire protection districts.
Barton said he gets a lot of people reaching out to him asking to be enrolled, but he has to turn many away because they’re too far away.
He is hopeful the program can be expanded to cover the entire county.
Brown said she used to care for her grandmother who had Alzheimer’s, so she, too, knows the program could help people.
“Of course, once I heard about the project I jumped on it,” she said.
Barton said he believes the partnership between the Health Department and Sheriff’s Office will work out well.
The Health Department would market the program, enroll people in it, place the device on a person’s wrist or ankle, and replace the batteries, which last about two months, when needed.
The Sheriff’s Office would be responsible for using the technology to track missing people.
Brown said the Health Department plans to apply for the Jefferson Foundation grant, and possibly others, this summer, with the hopes of starting the program next fall or early in 2020.
Those who have questions about the program may contact Brown at 636-797-3737, ext. 139.