Highlands’ employees had the opportunity to learn about Project Lifesaver and its benefits to community members, patients, and children receiving treatment at the Highlands Center for Autism. Project Lifesaver is an organization whose primary mission is to provide timely response to save lives and reduce potential injury for adults and children who wander off due to Alzheimer’s, autism, and other related conditions or disorders.

For those enrolled in Project Lifesaver, a small personal transmitter is securely placed around the wrist or ankle that emits an individualized tracking signal. If the person wearing the device goes missing, the caregiver is to notify their local Project Lifesaver agency, and a trained emergency team responds to the wanderer’s area.

Established in April of 1999 as in an initiative of the 43rd Search and Rescue Company of the Chesapeake, Virginia Sheriff’s Office, Project Lifesaver is now a national program that has spread to over 900 agencies throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. In the 1,867 searches where individuals were wearing the transmitter, all searches were successful and resulted in finding the missing person within a fraction of the time of traditional search missions. In addition, Project Lifesavers boasts an average recovery time of 30 minutes – 95% less than standard search

operations.