Nothing can be more terrifying for a family than realizing an elderly or disabled loved one has wandered away and they can’t find them. Hopefully, a gift from Capitol Hill Healthcare will help reunite more families.

Capitol Hill has purchased equipment that alerts caregivers when a loved one wanders from a specified area and helps to locate them. It will be donated to the aviation unit of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA). Between fighting crime, the unit finds lost people as part of Project Lifesaver.

The program uses VHF transmission radio signals to recover adults and kids with cognitive disabilities who wear special transmitters around their wrists. Capitol Hill has donated a Perimeter Receiver DUO kit that includes a signal transmitter and receiver, wristbands, a one-year supply of batteries. The receiver sounds an audible alarm when the person wearing the transmitter is out of the receiver’s range.

The transmitter signals can be tracked by a receiver antenna in an ALEA plane or helicopter even from miles away. The transmitters emit a radio signal every second. Each signal is unique and rescuers on the ground or in the air can hone in on a particular signal. The ALEA unit can be anywhere in the state within one hour and, by tracking radio signals, they can usually recover a lost person within 10 to 15 minutes.

“We are committed to supporting the well-being of seniors and the disabled in our state,” said Michael Burnett, administrator.  “The longer a sick or impaired person is missing, their risk of danger increases. We are glad to contribute to faster recoveries.”