Town Eyes Device Able to Locate Missing Residents

In conjunction with efforts to get residents with special needs to register on the state's Register Ready program, township emergency officials met last week with representatives of a manufacturer of a potentially life-saving device.

The representatives of Emfinders demonstrated how their wrist-watch shaped device can provide 911 centers with a location of someone wearing the device anytime a caller notifies the company someone is missing to Mayor Carolann Garafola, Cheif of Police Russell Leffert, and Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Jane Asch.

Unlike most other systems aimed at helping families find a missing elderly parent or disoriented child, the Emfinder device doesn't require the wearer to do anything—instead a signal sent by the company initiates a call to 911 from the device, which provides police with instructions on pinpointing the location of the call and notification the wearer is a person in need of assistance.

In the test, police dispatcher Stephen Schumacher was able to pull up a map placing the device within about 150 feet of its location—Chief of Police Russell Leffert noted that while that's still a big area to search in the woods, it would still give a search team a much better start to finding an elderly resident with Alzhemier's.

The devices cost about $200 each, plus a $35 monthly service fee. Officials said local service clubs could help raise money for any residents unable to afford the service.