Project Lifesaver

Through the generous donation of the Nelson family, the Burlington Police Department is the first agency in Skagit County to employ the Project Lifesaver Care Trac System.

What is Project Lifesaver of Burlington

Project Lifesaver is designed to provide a safety net for our most vulnerable citizens while at the same time providing their families with peace of mind. Each Project Lifesaver client receives a transmitter about the size of a wrist watch. The "bracelet" emits a twenty four hour per day radio signal on a frequency unique to the client.

When a client wanders away the caregiver makes a call to 9-1-1 who dispatches an officer equipped with a monitor to locate the location of the radio signal. Other agencies that have employed Project Lifesaver have dramatically reduced the amount of time necessary to locate a wanderer. A search and rescue operation that formerly used large numbers of personnel and consumed several hours can now be accomplished in under an hour using a small team of specially-trained officers.

How Did Project Lifesaver Begin?

On February 4, 2004, Harry Nelson died after being struck by a train. He had wandered away from his care facility.

As a result his family decided to invest in a program that would prevent another family from going through a similar loss. The result is the Harry Nelson Lifesaver Project. Persons who suffer from Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are prone to wander. People with Down Syndrome, Autism, Prader-Willi, or traumatic brain injury exhibit this tendency. These conditions also affect a person's abilities for reasoning, judgment and the ability to communicate.

Traditional methods for searching rely upon the ability of the lost person to answer calls from searchers. People who suffer from the aforementioned diseases either do not have the ability to respond to searcher's calls or they choose not to respond. Search efforts become more time consuming resulting in a reduction in the chances for survival of the lost person.

Thank you for your support

Project Lifesaver of Burlington gratefully recognizes the contributions of Marian Nelson and Nancy Gentry, without whose support this program could not exist in Burlington.

More Information

If you are interested in participation in the Project Lifesaver Program, contact the Burlington Police Department by email or phone. For more information on Project Lifesaver go to Project Life Saver, and CareTrak.