The Pilot Club of Covington presented Sheriff Ezell Brown with a $700 donation for Project LifeSaver, according to a press release by the Newton County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO). Present Pilot members included Jane Woodward, Ann Cargile and Cathy Allen.

The NCSO currently has five citizens participating in Project LifeSaver, three of whom have autism and two with Alzheimer’s. The primary mission of the organization is “to provide timely response to save lives and reduce potential injury for adults and children who wander due to Alzheimer’s, autism and other related conditions or disorders,” said the press release.

Members of the NCSO say incidents of law enforcement searching for wandering or lost individuals with Alzheimer’s, autism, Down syndrome, dementia or other cognitive conditions have been growing. Without effective procedures and equipment, searches can involve multiple agencies, hundreds of officers, countless man hours and thousands of dollars.

Citizens enrolled in Project Lifesaver wear a small personal transmitter around the wrist or ankle that emits an individualized tracking signal. If an enrolled citizen goes missing, the caregiver notifies their local Project Lifesaver agency and a trained emergency team responds to the wanderer’s area. Most who wander are found within a few miles from home and search times have been reduced from hours and days to minutes. Recovery times for clients average 30 minutes, which is 95 percent less time than standard operations