Triad Hosts Chief Gene Saunders, Founder of Project Lifesaver
By: Orange County Communications
Have you heard of Project Lifesaver? Project Lifesaver is a program available through the Triad Division of the Orange County Sheriff ’ s Office. It makes use of reliable radio transmitters and receivers to save lives and reduce the risk of injury for persons with dementia, Alzheimer ’ s, Autism, and other characteristics that might make them more likely to becoming lost through wandering.
Upon enrollment, the person is equipped with a small radio transmitter band worn like a bracelet on the arm or ankle. Should that person become lost, their family can call 911 for help. Our Emergency Communications team will know what to do A Project Lifesaver Radio Receiver
upon determining the lost individual wears a Project Lifesaver band. Trained responders and volunteers will be dispatched who are able to quickly and effectively locate the individual by tracking the band ’ s signal.
At the end of last month, Orange County Triad invited the founder of Project Lifesaver, Chief Gene Saunders, to speak to a collection of over 50 first responders from the area. Representatives from Albemarle, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Madison, and more joined Orange County to learn about the history of the program, its growth, and ways that it can help save the lives of their residents. According to Chief Saunders, Project Lifesaver has been adopted by more than 1,800 agencies in the United States and beyond, and there have been at least 4,000 successful searches! Amazingly, the average search time involved finding a person enrolled in Project Lifesaver is just 30 minutes. Chief Saunders explained that he has been involved with this program from the beginning, and it remains his passion. “[ They] couldn ’ t get me out of this program with dynamite, ” he said. It ’ s roots come from within the Commonwealth, in the form of a pilot program funded by a hospital grant while he was serving in the Police Department of Chesapeake, VA. Shortly after the pilot ’ s launch, the first transmitter was placed on an individual in Virginia Beach in April 1999. He described the reasons that locating individuals with conditions like dementia presented unique challenges, noting the lost individual would often actively avoid being found. They might hide or lock themselves in a location to avoid responders, potentially leading to tragic results. A solution was inspired by the radio - direction finding procedures and equipment already in use by wildlife agencies. The rugged equipment had been proven both reliable and effective. Adapting it for this purpose met some resistance at first, but the results spoke for themselves. Chief Saunders recalls the early days of Project Lifesaver in front of a crowd of first responders in the Orange County Public Safety Building.
Remembering the first person found using Project Lifesaver equipment, Chief Saunders recalled that he
Page 11 | April 2024
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