Morris Co. Sheriff's Officer Finds Lost Elderly Man In 7 Minutes

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ - All the stars were aligned the morning of June 4, when Morris County Sheriff’s Officer Travis Somerville learned that an elderly client of the Office’s Project Lifesaver program was missing from his home and was able to find him in under ten minutes.

Somerville was near the client’s home when he was alerted to the missing 82-year-old and within seven minutes he was safely recovered.

“I was in the right place at the right time. It was a good feeling to find him. His wife, who is the primary caretaker, was very relieved and grateful. She was happy to see how well the equipment worked to get her husband home safely,” Officer Somerville said.

Free of charge, Project Lifesaver provides enhanced support and assistance to Morris County residents who are primary caregivers for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia disorder, as well as families of children with Down syndrome, autism, traumatic brain injuries or cognitive impairments.

There currently are 136 adults and children enrolled in the Morris County Sheriff’s Office Project Lifesaver program. All wear a wrist or ankle bracelet equipped with a small transmitter that emits a signal that law enforcement officers use to track the person if they go missing.

Morris County’s speed at finding clients is better than the national average – approximately 13 minutes in Morris County versus about 30 minutes on average nationally. Founded on a principle of providing peace of mind to families and caregivers, the program operates nationwide, allowing families to vacation and still use the program to find a loved one if he or she wanders, officials said.

Somerville had just finished changing the transmitter batteries for one client in Rockaway Borough and then called the wife of a Project Lifesaver client in Dover to see if he could drop by to change the batteries in her husband’s wrist transmitter.

The spouse told Somerville she had been about to call him. Her husband, diagnosed with dementia, had left the house while she was momentarily occupied.

Somerville immediately started driving to the Dover residence and while en route, contacted the Morris County Communications Center at 10:25 a.m. to convey that the Sheriff’s Office K-9 Section and Dover Police Department needed to respond.

Somerville set his hand-held tracking device with the specific frequency of the Dover client’s wrist transmitter. As he approached the client’s home, the tracking device began chirping, indicating the client was nearby. Somerville scanned sidewalks and both sides of the street for the elderly gentleman, whom he spotted emerging from a convenience store carrying a cup of coffee, about a block from his home. The time was 10:32 a.m.

“Thank you to Officer Somerville for quickly stepping in to locate, and then escort home, this vulnerable client. Project Lifesaver is an invaluable and free program that lets Morris County Sheriff’s Officers fulfill a guardian role of keeping watch over some of our community’s most at-risk residents,” Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon said.

Morris County’s Project Lifesaver program receives some funding through an Area Plan Sub-Grant from the county of Morris’s Division on Aging, Disabilities and Veterans. To find out more and to sign up for the program visit the website.

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