At-risk person rescued
SANTA MARIA —Law enforcement and a volunteer team rescued a missing at-risk adult last weekend.
At 4:14 a.m. Saturday, the Santa Maria Police Department requested assistance from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office in locating the adult, who had been missing for several hours in the area of South Pine and West Boone streets.
The missing person had been enrolled in the Project Lifesaver Program, in which participants are given special wristbands with transmitters that emit silent signals that are only picked up by special receivers and directional antennas.
According to the sheriff’s office, the electrical monitoring system locates persons with Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism, Down’s syndrome or similar cognitive disorders that can cause the individual to wander due to confusion. Participants in the program wear a wristwatch-sized transmitter which sends out a unique radio frequency. The transmitter is part of a non-removable bracelet at the wrist or ankle.
When the sheriff’s office received the request for help, 10 SAR volunteer team members responded to search for the missing person. The team tracked the missing person to Main Street, near Blosser and continued narrowing its search area.
After an hour of searching, the team found the individual lying in a muddy field on West Main Street between Blosser and Black Road. The team helped the individual, who had been unable to get up; his clothing was soaked and covered in mud.
— Katherine Zehnder
