SafeAssured Program

The numbers are concerning - more than 2,000 children are reported missing each day in America. News reports often tell of vulnerable adults with dementia who have wandered away from their caretaker. The Volunteer Center of the Virginia Peninsula is offering a way for your organization to proactively respond to these issues. The SafeAssured ID program is a complex system that provides immediate comprehensive content that focuses the resources of the families, law enforcement, media and community on the tracking and location of the missing person. This program works in cooperation with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The SafeAssured mini CD provides a single repository containing personal information essential to location efforts. It protects children and vulnerable adults in several ways, First, it keeps private information safe in the hands of parents or caregivers. No information is stored away from the CD. Second, sensitive personal data is electronically protected through encryption. Finally, it responds to the need for immediate action upon the discovery that a loved one is missing.

In the event a child or vulnerable older adult goes missing, minutes matter. The SafeAssured ID Program of The Volunteer Center provides families with the power to deliver media and law enforcement immediate identifying data that is ready to broadcast. Information captured for dissemination includes:

• Streaming video showing movement and gait with both close up and direct shots that are television ready
• Linked audio file providing the person's voice inflection and accent
• General personal information
• Digital photograph

Each of these bits of information combines to reveal the person's life-like qualities that no still picture can. Additionally, the mini CD contains a full set of high quality fingerprint images, private information (street address, date of birth, medical conditions, special medications, identifying marks, scars or tattoos), and a code word that the family may use to covertly alert law enforcement without fear of harm. This vital but highly sensitive private personal data is electronically encrypted and accessible to law enforcement ONLY after a thorough screening of the law enforcement agency by SafeAssured.

What can you do to help?

• Make a tax-deductible donation to The Volunteer Center of the Virginia Peninsula.
• Become a recognized sponsor and help protect hundreds of vulnerable persons who otherwise cannot afford this protection.
• A donation of any amount will be used to purchase ID CD's for those in need.

We all hear stories of elderly folk who wander off from home and most of us say, "How sad. This could never happen in my family." My name is Patty Quesenberry and I work for The Volunteer Center of the Virginia Peninsula. This DID happen in my family. In April of 2006, my Dad left to drive a short distance and never got to his destination. I knew Dad was getting more forgetful but I just assumed it was a part of the aging process. His communication skills and motor skills were just fine. I have never been so frightened, realizing that Dad was lost. He was found wandering around the parking lot of a store over 65 miles away! He couldn't remember where he left his car and an ambulance was called because he had fallen and seemed confused to the employees. Rescue personnel contacted the police. The police then notified my family that Dad had been found and transported to a hospital almost 24 hours after he was first reported missing. My Dad never left the hospital, he died less than a week later.
When a loved one goes missing, minutes matter. Would finding him earlier have made a difference? None of us had a current picture in our wallet to provide to the police as we filed the missing persons report. Would a full alert to the police have found him earlier? These are questions we will never answer but this story is why I am so strongly in favor of having a secure form of identification for elderly family members who may be at risk of wandering off some day. Do it NOW! Keep a copy where it can be found easily by family members or a friend.

For information about this valuable program call 757-262-0190.

Ruby Deveraux, a volunteer and participant at Annual Senior Health & Safety Fair held at the Senior Center of York has her ID made to give to her family.