Province introduces ‘Lifesaver’ tracking system
Posted Apr 13, 2011 05:41:52 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Search and rescue teams in Nova Scotia will be getting a new tool to help find some people with cognitive disorders such as autism or Alzheimer’s who are at risk of wandering away from their homes.
The “Project Lifesaver” program provides a wristwatch-sized one-ounce transmitter that sends out a signal once a second.
Emergency Management Minister Ross Landry says that signal gives ground search and rescue something to track if the person disappears.
“By having the bracelet on and emitting that signal, if someone was to wander away from home and it’s reported in a timely manner, we could be able to react quickly and return them to safety sooner,” he said.
Veronica Fraser, the mother of James Delorey, says she hopes the new system will help save the lives of children in the future. James, who was autistic, was just seven years old when he wandered away from home in South Bar in December 2009. He was found alive after a two-day search but died of exposure in hospital.
Fraser says Project Lifesaver probably would have saved her son and she’s pleased the government is moving forward with the potentially life-saving system.
“Our society is not prepared for these free minds to wander,” she said. “And now, at least with that, it will be a good layer in helping these people be safe in their own environment.”
More than $270,000 in funding from the federal search and rescue new initiatives fund will pay for most of Nova Scotia’s search and rescue teams to get the antenna and receiver equipment, plus training, to help find anyone wearing one of the transmitters.
