To the editor:

Project Lifesaver is coming to Brown County! Because of a grant from the Brown County Community Foundation, TRIAD and the sheriff’s department are working together to develop this program for our Brown County families.

Project Lifesaver is a project to combine education and electronic technologies with advanced training for search-and-rescue personnel in order to help public safety agencies quickly locate citizens with Alzheimer’s disease, autism, Down syndrome, or any dementia or related illness who have wandered away and become lost. Searches in our Brown County hills can be especially challenging.

Individuals enrolled in this program wear a personalized, wristwatch-sized radio transmitter that allows first responders to rapidly locate them. Rescue personnel receive specialized training, not only on how to operate the tracking equipment, but also on key techniques to address behavioral or communication challenges specific to people with cognitive conditions. This is a skill critical to gaining the person’s trust and facilitating a safe return home.

Because of this BCCF grant, the cost of the program will be offset. We expect to make this program available to any interested Brown County resident. More information will be coming soon. In the meantime, do call us at 812-988-5606 and leave a message.

We are so excited at this opportunity for our community! Thank you very much, Brown County Community Foundation!

Sincerely,

Laura Young, for TRIAD, Brown County