{"id":150061,"date":"2022-01-08T00:06:30","date_gmt":"2022-01-08T05:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=150061"},"modified":"2022-01-08T00:06:33","modified_gmt":"2022-01-08T05:06:33","slug":"project-lifesaver-is-in-van-wert-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/01\/08\/project-lifesaver-is-in-van-wert-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Lifesaver is in Van Wert County"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VW independent staff and submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project Lifesaver has been around for more than two decades and recently was introduced to Van Wert County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a way for law enforcement to track at-risk individuals if they turn up missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Equipment for Project Livesaver is in use in Van Wert County. Photo submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProject Lifesaver is a search and rescue device,\u201d said Nikki Kuhlman, RN, BS CMH Nurse with the Van Wert County General Health District. \u201cIt is for clients who would wander away from home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The client wears a transmitter on the wrist or ankle and the sheriff\u2019s department would have the receivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey currently have three in the county so they would point those in different directions trying to hear the signal,\u201d Kuhlman explained. \u201cThe closer they get to the transmitter, the louder it gets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They use ground based directional antennas to triangulate the location of the missing person. By the end of 2022, they hope to be able to utilize a drone to help with the searches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ohio, 53 sheriff departments, 16 fire departments and three other agencies in the state utilize Project Lifesaver. Van Wert County has never had this particular search and rescue program until recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Currently, there are 15 children and one adult enrolled in the program. Putnam County, which started their program a few years ago, has six children and one adult using the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kuhlman\u2019s son, who has down\u2019s syndrome, is a client of Project Lifesaver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I kind of started this project because he has escaped from the house a couple of times himself,\u201d Kuhlman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project Lifesaver is also useful for families who have loved ones with dementia or Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of autistic children are on this already, or if you\u2019ve had some sort of mental condition or if you\u2019ve had like a brain injury,\u201d Kuhlman said.
Every 60 days the Van Wert County Sheriff\u2019s Department will change the transmitter band and battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn between that time the family or caregiver would test it,\u201d Kuhlman said. \u201cIf the battery is not lighting up, the battery tester is not working then they would need it changed more frequently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Van Wert County, clients 60 and older can sign up for Project Lifesaver through the Van Wert County Council on Aging, while those under 60 can contact Kuhlman at the Van Wert County Health Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll go over the program with them, get them some paperwork, review it with the committee and as long as there\u2019s a need, we will find a way to get it for them,\u201d Kuhlman said. \u201cIt\u2019s currently no cost to clients. We were lucky enough to have the Van Wert County Foundation and some grant money so as long as that money continues, it will be considered free to the clients, however if you want to donate to it, all the money will go back to the foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VW independent staff and submitted information Project Lifesaver has been around for more than two decades and recently was introduced to Van Wert County. It\u2019s a way for law enforcement to track at-risk individuals if they turn up missing. \u201cProject Lifesaver is a search and rescue device,\u201d said Nikki Kuhlman, RN, BS CMH Nurse with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 23:56:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}