Project Lifesaver to hold Nov. 9 information session in Oakland

Project Lifesaver, the program that helps first responders quickly find people who wander away because of autism, dementia and similar conditions, will hold a public information session at 6 p.m. Nov. 9 in Oakland. The event will be held in the community room at Oakland City Hall, which is attached to the fire station, and local Masons will provide food. The program is run by the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, the Council Bluffs Police Department and the Council Bluffs Fire Department. Sgt. Aaron Soucie of the sheriff’s office, Capt. Dan Morse of the Council Bluffs Fire Department and Fire Marshal Alex Ford of the Council Bluffs Fire Department said the session is meant for families who think a loved one might qualify, as well as for community members who want to learn about the program and support it. A similar session earlier this fall in Underwood drew a strong crowd and led several families to enroll after talking one-on-one with organizers following the presentation.

The program has grown faster than anyone involved expected. Enrollment is now past 52 people and will grow again within the next two weeks, more than double what organizers had anticipated for the first year, and they said that growth shows the program is needed far more than anyone first realized. Families are now being referred by their doctors’ offices. The program has had no waiting list since its first several months, thanks to donations from the community, and the goal is to keep enough equipment on hand that a waiting list never returns. Word of mouth has also played a part. After one family in the West End enrolled, about five more households within a three-block radius signed up within a month.

Ford said the program offers something families have rarely had. “One thing we’ve learned early on is these families have a level of worry that we have never had to have before,” Ford said. “If we can give them just one more piece of mind that if their loved one goes missing, we have that technology to go and find them.” The program has not been called out to search for anyone since its last local success, but the equipment and teams are ready. Organizers remind families to keep doing what they have always done to keep their loved ones safe, with the program serving as a backup.

The technology is simple. Each participant wears a wristband or ankle band carrying a radio transmitter set to its own frequency. When someone is reported missing, searchers use receivers tuned to that frequency, which can pick up the signal within about a mile by line of sight, and close in on the person. Organizers stress that the bands are tracked only when a person is missing and are not used to monitor anyone’s movements. People with autism make up the largest group of participants, followed by people with Down syndrome, and a growing number of people with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. People with traumatic brain injuries are also eligible, though none are enrolled yet. Transmitter batteries are changed every 55 to 58 days. Caregivers receive a yearly schedule and can walk in without an appointment from 1 to 4 p.m. on scheduled Tuesdays or most of the day on scheduled Wednesdays. Each change takes about five minutes.

With participants living in Oakland, Carson, Macedonia and Avoca, organizers are working to train fire departments in eastern Pottawattamie County so searches can begin sooner. A team coming from Council Bluffs faces a delay reaching a town such as Macedonia, while a local department can arrive quickly and start the search. Oakland’s department was trained this year, and Crescent and Macedonia are preparing to begin. The two-day training covers the equipment on the first day and large-scale practice searches on the second, including a game of hide-and-seek in another town, so that crews are confident with the equipment when a real call comes.

Local teams also train twice a year. At last month’s session, searches ranged from the riverfront to south of Lewis Central, and the team dropped a transmitter to the bottom of Lake Manawa to see how it would perform. The signal’s range shortened underwater, and the team decided that any search near water will now start with a receiver in a boat running the shoreline. The next training is planned for spring. Similar programs operate in Glenwood, Omaha, Sarpy County, Plattsmouth, Lincoln and Sioux City, but none exist in Des Moines, and agencies in central and eastern Iowa have contacted the local team for advice on starting their own.

For more information, visit https://www.councilbluffs-ia.gov/2616/Project-Lifesaver