Lost&Found

Device could save a life

By LYDIA COTTRELL lcottrell@timesobserver.com
A grandmother’s dream to further protect her autistic grandson is now a reality.

After only five months of planning, Pam Heinold with the help Terry Campbell, the operations and training officer for Warren County E.M.A., were able to bring Operation Take Me Home to Warren County. The program combines the efforts of local volunteers and law enforcement to provide special needs people, like those with autism or Alzheimer’s, with transmitters. The transmitters allow trained rescuers to find the individual with a receiver if they become lost. Training with the equipment took place Friday.

The desire to bring the program to Warren County derived from safety concerns for an autistic boy named Conner. Heinold is Conner’s maternal grandmother and Campbell is the boy’s paternal grandfather. Heinold said Operation Take Me Home is an extra security blanket for families with loved ones with special needs.

She has lost Conner in the past and knows all too well how the equipment will calm the fears of many. Since some individuals with special needs are unable to call out for help or respond when

Friday’s equipment training was provided by the Western Pennsylvania Search and Rescue Development Center (WPARDC). John Pryle, director of emergency services for the WPARDC, instructed members of Warren City police, the Warren County Sheriff’s Department and Youngsville Borough Police on the how to use the signal receiving equipment.

The transmitter is a bracelet worn by the special needs individual. A receiver, which resembles a tin lunch box, finds the signal from the transmitter by using an antenna which hooks into the receiver.

There are two types of antennas, Pryle told the trainees. The first is a hand held antenna called a “yagi.” The yagi allows the search team to find the direction of the signal and has a range of three-fourths of a mile to one mile.

The second type of antenna is called an “omni” antenna. The omni antenna can be mounted to the roof of a vehicle. The omni antenna receives signal from a 360 degree radius and has a range of a quarter mile.

When doing a search on foot, Pryle said searchers would use the yagi antenna because it indicates from which direction the transmitter signal is coming.

Pryle also taught the group about frequencies. The Operation Take Me Home receiver uses the UHF band frequency of 215.

“Two fifteen is the medical monitoring frequency and that’s what you’re doing, medical monitoring,” he said. The 215 frequency was designated by the FCC, he said.

Pryle said each transmitter would be a assigned a frequency in the 215 range. For example, one bracelet could be assigned the frequency 215.329.

Throughout the instruction, Pryle taught the trainees about the many functions of the receiver. One of the functions included the attenuator toggle switch. This switch only picks up the transmitter signal when within the range of 50 to 60 feet of the receiver, allowing the rescue team member to narrow the search.

“Always, start with the attenuator in the off position,” Pryle cautioned the students.

Following the classroom instruction, the trainees received hands-on training with the equipment on the Sate Hospital grounds. Eight transmitters were scattered in the field next to the Don Mills Achievement Center. Each trainee had to assemble the equipment and find a transmitter.

One by one, the trainees tried their search and rescue skills using the equipment.

Youngsville Borough police Chief Todd Mineweaser struggled a little with his first attempt. The problem—he left the attenuator switch in the “on” position.

“You need a lot of practice,” he told his fellow classmates.

The arrival of Operation Take Me Home was made possible by the sponsorship of the Don Mills Achievement Center. The center purchased two receivers. One will be housed at the E-911 center in Youngsville and the other will reside at the Warren County Sheriff’s Department.

The Don Mills Achievement Center will house the database for the program participants. Heinold said database training took place last week. The databased will hold all important information about the individuals wearing transmitters. This information includes the individual’s fears and whether or not the individual is verbal.

According to Heinold, the group already has four families with autistic children interested in the program. Once the equipment training is complete, those families will be notified so transmitters can be ordered for the children.

The cost of the transmitter bracelet is the responsibility of the family at this times. When the project was first being considered, the price for a transmitter was about $450. Heinold said the price has gone down to $247. She said some families may be able to find grants to pay for the transmitter.

This is just the beginning for Operation Take Me Home. The program has room to grow. Other groups may be able to benefit from the program. For example, Heinold said children with severe diabetes could use the program.

If a diabetic child was to pass out and was in dire need of insulin, Operation Take Me Home would help located the child more quickly, she said.

The group has the ability to, in the future, purchase more receivers.

“We’ll be doing fund-raisers,” Heinold said. “This is just beginning.”