Search and Rescue launch $5,000 dementia drive

23 January 2012

Search and Rescue launch $5,000 dementia drive

Rotary donation kicks off appeal


The Rotary Club of Kerikeri has come to the aid of Far North Search and Rescue (FNSAR) with a donation of $1,000 towards specialist tracking equipment to help locate missing dementia sufferers.

The donation is the first step towards raising the $5,000 the group needs to buy 10 WandaTrak transmitters and a receiver to help locate missing dementia sufferers in the region. Ongoing maintenance costs are expected be in the region of $1,000 a year.

FNSAR President Ian Ruddell thanked the Rotary Club of Kerikeri and asked other organisations which might be prepared to help, to make contact.

“Assuming we’re able to fund this project fully we’ll be one of just a few LandSAR groups with this type of search capability. It would be of immense benefit to the carers of those with dementia in this region.”

FNSAR’s decision to buy the equipment was announced in June last year. Shortly afterwards the Rotary Club of Kerikeri invited two FNSAR members, secretary Marilyn Buckley and radio-tracking expert Grant Adams, to make a presentation about the technology and how it would be used.

WandaTrak helps rescuers locate dementia or autism patients who have wandered away from their homes or caregivers. They’re usually extremely difficult to find due to the unpredictability of their behaviour.

Known wanderers are given pendants or watches that emit pulses on specific frequencies. These can be detected with a radio tracking unit and a direction-finding aerial. The closer the pendant or watch emitting the target pulse, the stronger the signal.

An increase in searches for wandering dementia patients in towns and cities saw the number of land search and rescue callouts last year rise by 38% over the previous year alone, according to statistics issued by Land Search and Rescue New Zealand (LandSAR).

“We’re thrilled to be able to help FNSAR buy this valuable equipment,” said Sherryl Neale, President of the Rotary Club of Kerikeri. “At the end of the day it was the people of Kerikeri who provided the funds. They’re the enablers. We’re simply the collectors and the distributors.”

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