Project Lifesaver

The Oshkosh Police Department is reminding everyone that if you have a loved one that has a medically diagnosed memory loss, Autism, or Down Syndrome, and they tend to walk away from home, there is a program that can bring your loved one’s home. The Oshkosh Police Department partners with a program called Project Lifesaver. Project Lifesaver is a radio tracking system designed for people with diagnoses that involve a wandering risk such as Dementia, Alzheimer's, Autism and Down Syndrome. The client wears a transmitter on his or her ankle that emits a unique radio signal once every second, 24 hours a day. If the client wanders and is missing, the Oshkosh Police Department will deploy specially trained electronic search specialists to the area the client was last seen and begin searching using radio receivers. These radio receivers can detect the signal for up to a mile on the ground and five-seven miles in the air. Recently, an Oshkosh citizen with dementia had walked away from his home and was found about four hours later 2.5 miles away. Thankfully, this incident ended happily for the family. Since this incident, the citizen has recently acquired the Project Lifesaver program. If you have a family member who has a diagnosed memory loss, Autism, or Down Syndrome and tends to walk away from home and you have questions about the Project Lifesaver, please call Sgt. Todd Wrage at (920) 236-5757 for more information; or go to Project LifeSaver for additional information.