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A lifesaving program started in Virginia in 1999 continues to help find lost autistic children in Nebraska. Project Lifesaver is designed to help protect children with a tendency to wander. Lincoln businessman Dan Young and retired Lincoln Police Officer Todd Beam are responsible for spreading the program across Nebraska. Young started his conversation with Nebraska Public Media’s Dale Johnson by sharing a Project LifeSaver story.
Dan Young: There was a child in Gastonia, North Carolina named Maddox Rich. He was in a park walking with his dad, and he bolted from his dad. Law enforcement spent a week searching for Maddox, and they found him in a creek less than one mile from where he bolted from his father. With Project Lifesaver, we would have been able to locate Maddox in minutes. Maddox died because this technology was not on him at that time,
Dale Johnson: It's important to share your personal story, which started in 2013 when you and your wife, Mary Ann learned that your son, Beau, was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2. Not long after that, you became concerned about Beau's impulse to wander away. And I remember when you took on this crusade to involve law enforcement agencies in Project Lifesaver. And knowing you the way I do, you just went at it. It became a crusade for you.
Young: As of today, we have brought Project Lifesaver to 18 cities and over 24 law enforcement agencies. We are scheduled here in the next week or two to train the Beatrice Police Department. They are going to be one of our newer agencies, and it's a two-and-a-half-day class that me and Todd Beam go there and we instruct law enforcement how to use the equipment, and also educate law enforcement on autism, how to encounter people with autism.
Johnson: Let's bring Todd into the conversation. Todd is with the radio communication system through Lincoln Police Department. The supervisor with that group. What excited you about Project Lifesaver all those years ago?
Todd Beam: At the time, we were looking for a tracking technology, and we realized the number of calls for service that we were having that we were experiencing with individuals with autism, wandering, bolting or eloping from the safety of their caregivers, and this gave us an opportunity to provide a service to that community that we didn't have.
Johnson: The device starts with a band around the child's ankle and/or wrist correct? The child wears it 24/7, depending on what the parents’ allowance might be. If the child does wonder, how does that search start, Todd?
Beam: That search would start with a call to the 911 center. Each client has a transmitter that has a unique frequency that's assigned to them, and we use that transmitter in conjunction with highly-trained officers who operate a very special, sensitive receiver that's able to locate these transmitters.
Johnson: And as the search continues, if you get closer and closer to that child, what happens?
Beam: Closer we get, the louder the signal gets.
Johnson: Lincoln officials are saying that search times for certified Project Lifesaver agencies have been reduced from hours, potentially days, down to minutes. Recovery time for Project Lifesaver agencies average 30 minutes, and that's 95% less time than standard operations without Operation Lifesaver. Nationally and internationally, because Canada has Project Lifesaver, approximately how many successful rescues are you aware of?
Young: Over 4,300. It's just not autism. It goes into dementia, Alzheimer's, depending on the law enforcement agency, they set the program up. What fits the community's needs?
Johnson: How are the bands distributed? How do parents or caregivers come across the safety bands?
Young: If you feel there is a need in your community, contact your law enforcement and they can contact the Julia Rose Foundation, and we will bring it there.
Johnson: So it starts with a contact, a parent, a caregiver to a law enforcement agency in their region of the state.
Beam: Project, Lifesaver is sponsored by local law enforcement agencies. The searches are conducted by trained officers, and so as a result of that, again, Project Lifesaver is sponsored by the individual law enforcement agencies in each jurisdiction.
Johnson: Alright, so contact your local law enforcement agency. That could be a police department that could be a county sheriff in your community, and they, in turn, will get a hold of either Todd or Dan in Lincoln for Project Lifesaver. Thank you for bringing your story, Dan. You and I have been telling this story for a number of years. Keep up the good work. Todd, good to see you again.
Beam: Thank you.
Johnson: Be sure to contact your local law enforcement agency if you have a need for Project Lifesaver. For Nebraska Public Media News, I'm Dale Johnson.