WHITE PLAINS, NY — Westchester County police used Project Lifesaver technology Wednesday night to find an elderly Alzheimer’s patient from White Plains who had wandered away from home.
White Plains police notified Westchester County police at 8:26 p.m. that an elderly White Plains resident who was enrolled in the Project Lifesaver program was missing from her home and was last seen in the vicinity of Idlewood Road and Hartsdale Avenue. County Police Officers Kathleen Cristiano and Christopher Neuhs, who are trained in the use of the Project Lifesaver tracking equipment, responded to assist in the search for the missing woman.
Under the Project Lifesaver program, persons suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia who have a history of wandering away are fitted with a special tracking bracelet. Specially trained and equipped county police officers are able to locate missing persons wearing the bracelet by tracing a radio signal that it emits.
The county officers were able to pick up the signal from the woman’s bracelet and located her at 9:12 p.m. at Prospect Street and South Lexington Avenue – about 1.3 miles from home. She was returned home safely to her daughter.
Project Lifesaver is sponsored by the Department of Senior Programs and Services and the Department of Public Safety in partnership with the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale and International Project Lifesaver. For more information about Project Lifesaver, call ElderServe at (914) 368-5506 or send an email to cjohnson@hebrewhome.org
Last night’s successful search marked the ninth time that a missing Project Lifesaver client was located by officers from the Department of Public Safety and safely returned home. The program was implemented in August 2008.