Project Lifesaver presented to borough
Police Capt. William Reinik of the Allentown Police Department gave a presentation to the Emmaus Borough Council regarding Project Lifesaver at the May 2 meeting.
Project Lifesaver is a program which uses electronic monitoring bracelets to help quickly locate those with autism, Alzheimer’s or other conditions who wander away from home.
The program was brought to the borough’s attention in March by Martha Lieberman, who is the Lehigh Valley coordinator for Project Lifesaver.
Reinik said they started this program about three years ago in Allentown. Lieberman secured a grant from Project Lifesaver which helped pay for training and equipment. Before they had the program, they would spend upwards of 12 hours searching for a missing person with those conditions.
Most recently was the case of 5-year-old Jayliel Vega Batista, who wandered away from home in January and was found dead in the Lehigh Canal. Reinik said they spent over 40 hours searching for Batista. If Batista would have had a bracelet, Reinik said they would have found him within five minutes of arriving at the house.
“We put these [tracking bracelets] on those folks who can’t take care of themselves and are wanderers,” Reinik said. “These are the ones that when you turn your back they’re out the door. Or the Alzheimer’s patient that wakes up in the middle of the night and thinks they are 50 years prior and that they’re going to work at two in the morning and just walk out of the house and then don’t have the ability to take care of themselves.”
The bracelets, which are made of Nylon material and utilize a battery watch, cost $350 and transmit a signal 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Reinik said it transmits on the equivalence of FM radio frequencies, and there are 1,000 different varieties and frequencies. Each patient is given a specific frequency number.
The signal, which is traced on a portable receiver the police have, can reach up to two miles. It can also be traced in up to seven feet of water. When the receiver is turned on and is in the radius of a bracelet, there will be a beep heard every second. The closer the receiver is to the watch, the louder the beeping noise becomes. Reinik said they “can pinpoint this to a certain house, to a certain closet or drawer per say.” The average find from a mile away is 10 to 15 minutes.
Up until this year, the Allentown Police Department has only had seven people purchase these bracelets. Reinik said they put ads in the newspaper and on WFMZ, but they never really got a response. About a month after the tragedy of Batista, they advertised it again and “the response was overwhelming.” Reinik said he got 80 calls in that first weekend from parents “who were relieved we could help, that were desperate to get some help and that are good parents.”
The police department has been getting donations from businesses in center city Allentown as well as Lehigh Valley Health Network. These donations are transferred to the Allentown account at Project Lifesaver International, where it stays until someone purchases a bracelet. The donations are helping people immensely.
Reinik said 95 percent of the kids they are putting the bracelets on come from single parent homes– the single parent usually being the mother.
“I will say that 85 percent are Hispanic and 80 percent of those are living in center city Allentown, and most of them are living on SSI [Social Security Income] where mom can’t work.”
He went on to say these parents love their kids, but don’t have the ability to get a job and leave their child with a babysitter or daycare because they are a lot of work.
“Right now I have about 40 who are getting the bracelets and I’m still getting two to three calls a day from those parents wanting a bracelet.”
Councilman Chris DeFrain asked what information a caller would have to give emergency operators in the case their loved one goes missing. Reinik said the operators have been trained to know how to proceed as soon as they hear the patient has Project Lifesaver and won’t need any further information.
“My guys have a box and in there is a file of every client that we have,” he said. “There’s a picture, questionnaire on what you like and you don’t like, where you’ve walked off in the past, and your frequency number in big red letters.”
Right now the only areas in Pennsylvania which have Project Lifesaver are Allentown, Bethlehem and Allegheny County. “It’s huge up north and in New York and it’s huge down south. It just hasn’t hit here yet,” Reinik said.
In other business, council approved 7-0 to put out a bid for a new leaf vacuum truck. The bid will be for a maximum of $40,000 plus tag and transport fees.
Councilman Nathan Brown said this will be an “effective and efficient purchase.” The borough is currently using multiple vehicles and dump trucks to pick up leaves around the borough. This new machine will grind the leaves as it goes, resulting in more space.
“Not only will this pay for itself probably in a year, it will actually be less wear and tear on our other pieces of equipment,” Council President Brent Labenberg said. “It sounds like it can almost do half a town in one day, if I read the brochure correctly.”