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New Program
Helps Find Missing Child With Autism
Dan Bewley, Wood Tv8, June 15, 2005
Also, see
https://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/2-05/Teo2-25-05.html
for additional information on this program.
For more articles like this
visit
https://www.bridges4kids.org.
"You just never
know what he would be doing, 'cause his mind just goes," said
Dante's mom Angie.
A Kalamazoo County family is thankful for 21st Century
technology. A simple transmitter helped them find their
seven-year-old son, who is autistic, after he disappeared.
Dante Jeffries is full of energy, always going this way and
that. "You just never know what he would be doing, 'cause his
mind just goes," said Angie Jeffries, Dante's mother. Dante's
mom and dad can never turn their back on him, fearful he might
disappear, just like he did late Tuesday afternoon.
"He just got out through the patio door and he was just gone,"
said Chris Jeffries, Dante's father.
The child's family had no idea where he had gone.
Dante has disappeared before, and then it took hours to find
him. On Tuesday, it was a little different, because he was
wearing a special wristband called Project Lifesaver. It
broadcasts a special signal that can be tracked by police.
"It's a time saver, it's a money saver, it's cost efficient in
every way imaginable," said Lt. Wally Kipp of the Kalamazoo
County Sheriff's Department.
The Autism Society of Kalamazoo/Battle Creek started the program
last fall. Since then, $30,000 have been raised and 11 kids and
one adult are wearing a wristband.
"Across the country Project Lifesaver has a 100-percent success
rate. They have successfully recovered every lost person that
they have looked for, and the average response time, average
recovery time, is 22 minutes nationwide," said Beverly Bishop of
the Autism Society of Kalamazoo/Battle Creek.
Three police officers went on the search for Dante. The signal
tracked him to an empty house down the street. They peeked in
the window, and 25 minutes after he went missing, they saw
Dante's little feet poking from a bed. "He just went inside and
sort of made himself at home. He found some candy to eat, he was
watching cartoons," said Chris Jeffries.
The Autism Society of Kalamazoo/Battle Creek says the wristbands
are not just for kids with autism, but also for the elderly or
Alzheimer's disease patients.
For more information, visit the Autism Society of
Kalamazoo/Battle Creek at
http://www.asa-kal.org/.
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