Project Lifesaver helps lead deputies to lost man

By Katie Nichols (Contact) | Selma Times-Journal

Published Wednesday, July 30, 2008

A Dallas County Sheriff’s Department program saved a life Tuesday.

Thomas Stone, who suffers from Alzheimers, wandered off from his home on County Road 275.

His wife, Sylvia was cutting grass while he was sitting on the porch.

“When she went to check on him, he was gone,” Sheriff Harris Huffman said.

Sylvia called the sheriff’s department.

Luckily, her husband had an important life-saving tool on.

He used a small transmitter that looks much like a small wristwatch. It is part of a program called Project Lifesaver, which can help people who suffer from diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, which destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior severe enough to affect work, lifelong hobbies or social life.

Officers used the device to locate Thomas in a dried up pond in tall grass.

The search took only 10 minutes due to the program.

“Two deputies had to carry Mr. Stone out of the area,” Huffman said.

Sylvia said Thomas was sore, had some scratches and a broken toe.

The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department began Project Lifesaver three years ago.

“We looked at the program before we started it,” Huffman said. “It has been a wonderful program. We have a 100 percent recovery rate.”

It began in Virginia in 1999 as an initiative of a rescue company in Chesapeake. The technology is based on the work of the Stokes County rescue squad in North Carolina, which used special equipment to locate lost and wandering patients.

Now, more than 30 counties in Alabama have Project Lifesaver in place.

“If a person is in another county, all we have to do is give them the transmission number,” Huffman said. “The officers can put that number in and locate the person there.”

Participants do not pay anything for the services except $10 per month for the battery.

The units cost about $300. Donations pay for the device and it does not cost the sheriff’s department anything.

“This is funded by donations form city organizations, churches, and private individuals,” Huffman said. “The contributions are strictly for project lifesaver.”

Huffman said the only stipulation was that if the person moved out of the county or died then the device must be returned.

Sylvia heard about Project Lifesaver from a representative of the sheriff’s department at Westwood Baptist Church.

“Thomas would talk about wanting to go walking in the yard, but he was afraid he might accidentally get lost,” Sylvia said. “The more I thought about it the more I knew he need to get the bracelet.”

She has never regretted the decision.

“I believe in it 100 percent,” she said. “If he didn’t have it yesterday, he might not be here today.”

Sylvia recommends Project Lifesaver to anyone who has even the earliest stages of a memory related disease.

“Don’t wait one more minute,” she said. “Get one right away.”

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To get information on becoming a participant in Project Lifesaver or to donate to the cause contact the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department at 874-2519.