A $4800 donation has allowed Saskatoon Search and Rescue to expand one of its most important initiatives: the Project Lifesaver Program.

SSAR Communications Director Katie Willie says the gift came from the Union of Safety and Justice Employees. Willie says the program equips people who have a tendency to wander from home with a special bracelet that emits a radio signal. This signal helps the search and rescue team locate the lost individual no matter where they are. People in the program often struggle with autism, traumatic brain injuries, dementia, Alzheimer’s, or anything else that may cause them to wander from home.

So far this year, the team has been deployed between six and ten times, each of which has been successful.

“Community vigilance and everyone being aware that this person is missing is hugely helpful too, but these bracelets and the receivers that we use to track them and find them are very important and increase the speed at which this person can be found.”

The new funding will allow the SSAR to add six new bracelets to the program for a total of 51.

“We would like to see this program grow. It’s a huge part of what we at Saskatoon Search and Rescue do,” she explains. “The more we have, the more people and more families we’re able to provide that sense of safety to.”

Willie says anyone interested in registering a loved one for a bracelet can learn more online at Project Lifesaver Saskatoon.