High-Tech Device Helping Officials In Local Communities Find Missing Persons
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A high tech way to help find missing people is now available in more communities in our area.
It could help people with Alzheimer's or dementia, or children with Austim or other special needs.
It's called Project Lifesaver, and the devices use radio signals to find people who wear transmitters that look like wrist watches.
First Assistant Chief Bill Sombo at the Circleville Volunteer Department in North Huntingdon showed us how it works.
He carries something that looks like an antenna and says he hears pings that tell him how close he's getting to the person he's trying to find.
His department was the first in the area to have Project Lifesaver, and they used it once to quickly find an elderly Alzheimer's patient who had wandered off.
Unfortunately, a similar case without this technology ended differently in Lower Burrell when 86-year-old Sheila Creevey was found dead inside a truck Tuesday.
It was last summer when the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office came on-board with the program after it started in Munhall.
People across the county can apply, and 40 have. It's free to participate.
For more information:
- Project Lifesaver
- Allegheny County Project Lifesaver
- Venango County Project Lifesaver
- Monongalia County Project Lifesaver
It's also available thru sheriffs' departments in Venango, Clarion and Monongalia Counties.
The Circleville Volunteer Fire Department offers it free of charge to people who qualify in the North Huntingdon and Irwin areas of Westmoreland Counties.
Some say this works better than similar GPS tracking devices.
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