Wilson deputies training with life-saving radio rescue tool

The Wake County Sheriff’s Office is training Wilson County deputies to use a radio tracking system for people with disabilities.

Instructors say Project Lifesaver can help rescuers save precious time when it matters most.

“Project lifesaver is a rapid response team that finds individuals with cognitive impairments that have wandered away from their caregivers, that otherwise cannot find their way home,” Wake County Sheriff’s Deputy Laura Driver said.

Deputies from Wilson County traveled to Pullen Park on Wednesday to train to use the equipment.

Patients enrolled in Project Lifesaver wear wristbands that send out radio waves, allowing rescuers to follow a receiver that picks up the band’s signal.

Wilson deputies ran through mock rescues with the equipment, winding their way through the park until finally making their way to the target.

On Wednesday, it was another deputy waiting patiently – but in a real rescue the stakes would be far higher.

“For individuals that have cognitive impairments that can’t find their way home, it’s important for us to be able to not only find the individuals, but find them quickly before they accidentally harm themselves,” Driver said.

Laura Driver has been teaching agencies to use Project Lifesaver for 16 years, and seen rescues where teams have found patients in as little as four minutes, keeping a family’s scary situation from becoming much worse.

“Huge difference,” Driver said. “That individual could have laid there overnight in freezing temperatures and we would have had very negative results otherwise.”

Wake deputies told WRAL News that for rural areas like Wilson, Project Lifesaver could be a crucial tool, allowing rescuers to keep hope alive if conventional GPS trackers should fail.

“It’s amazing, it’s phenomenal,” Driver said. “Project Lifesaver has had over 3000 rescues, they say that every person has been found alive with this equipment, and their average recovery time they state is within under 30 minutes.”

Driver said Wilson deputies would train at Pullen Park through the rest of the week before taking on patients.

Anyone looking to sign up for Project Lifesaver in Wake County can contact Laura Driver with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office at 919-856-6495.