LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kosair for Kids awarded more than $10,000 to the Jefferson County Search Dog Association so it can try and prevent tragedies if a child wanders from home.

JCSDA will use the money for Project Lifesaver, technology that uses a receiver and transmitter combination to help law enforcement and search officials quickly locate a missing person. 

"If I turn it, it gets louder for me," Darrell Roy, a JCSDA training officer, said Tuesday while demonstrating the transmitter. "The thing about this is it's simple and it's not complicated."

Project Lifesaver

Kosair for Kids awarded more than $10,000 to the Jefferson County Search Dog Association so it can try and prevent tragedies if a child wanders from home. July 16, 2024. (WDRB Photo)

Family members or caregivers can request a bracelet, or transmitter, for someone. That person wears the wrist or ankle bracelet, and, if reported missing, authorities will be able to ping the location within a 1-mile radius to focus the search area.

"It's a sad-but-true reality that children who have special needs, particularly those with autism, are prone to wandering," Kosair for Kids President Barry Dunn said Tuesday. "... This announcement today is going to make children with autism in the Jefferson County area safer. It's going to make us more likely to find children if they wander from home and it's going to allow us to find those children more quickly."

JCSDA's search and rescue dogs — and their handlers — assist requesting agencies in the search for people that are lost as well as victims of natural disasters. More than 30 team members are ready to respond at any moment, Kosair for Kids said in a news release Tuesday.

Amber Devine-Stinson, a JCSDA board member, is a speech therapist who worked with two young boys, Shalom Lawson and Walker Weeks, who both drowned a few years apart from each other. Drowning is the leading cause of death among autistic children, she said.

"Shalom and Walker were both 8-years-old, autistic and unaware of the danger of wandering and of water," Devine-Stinson said. "... Despite massive search efforts on foot, in the air and even on boats in nearby water areas, it took 18 hours to find Shalom's body in a retention pond just 100 yards from the home." 

Kosair Grant to JCSDA

Kosair for Kids awarded more than $10,000 to the Jefferson County Search Dog Association so it can try and prevent tragedies if a child wanders from home. July 16, 2024. (WDRB Photo)

After that, she learned of Project Lifesaver and worked to bring it to Louisville.

The grant from Kosair for Kids will allow JCSDA to purchase the electronic devices used by Project Lifesaver and equip 15 child with special needs who may be prone to wandering from home. 

"Having just a reliable, easy way to locate these kids within minutes instead of hours, that's what saves lives," Devine-Stinson. said.

Shalom's mother, Magdalene Lawson, said her son loved everyone, was an active little boy and enjoyed the water. And while he didn't have one of these bracelets, she now hopes others now will.

"It's very, very important for other family to have this program or equipment for their children," Lawson said.

JCSDA is a nonprofit that provides search and rescue services in nine counties in Kentucky counties and six in southern Indiana:

  • Kentucky
    • Bullitt
    • Henry
    • Jefferson
    • Meade
    • Nelson
    • Oldham
    • Shelby
    • Spencer
    • Trimble
  • Southern Indiana
    • Clark
    • Crawford
    • Floyd
    • Harrison
    • Scott
    • Washington

To find out which departments nationwide use Project Lifesaver, click here.

To get in contact with the Jefferson County Search Dog Association about Project Lifesaver, click here.

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