All Posts in "Month: January 2012"

Smitty, wearing an EmSeeQ device is "found" by Pierce County Sheriff's Department personnel.
Grant "Smitty" Smith who portrayed an Alzheimer's patient in a recent practice chats with Shanna Hudson and Tommie Nicodemus of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department after being "found".

Grant “Smitty” Smith walked away from his group Jan. 12 while they shopped at the Tacoma Mall.  Smitty, a 74-year old, balding, adult, white male was described as having Alzheimer’s Disease and missing from the group for possibly as long as 30 minutes.  The outside temperatures hovered in the mid-30s.  Luckily for Smitty, being lost was an exercise to demonstrate a new piece of equipment that might mean the difference between life and death for individuals with Alzheimer’s, Autism, brain injury or other cognitive difficulties.

While a 911 operator took the call and passed the information on to Pierce County Search and Rescue and Sheriff’s department personnel, an EmSeeQ, a watch-sized tracking device Smitty wore on his wrist was activated and three cell towers in Tacoma triangulated Smitty’s location.  With a 30-minute head start, Smitty took a bus from the transit center at the Tacoma Mall and headed towards Tacoma Community College (TCC).  Tommie Nicodemus with Pierce County Search and Rescue and Shanna Hudson with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department were surprised to find that the individual they thought would be on foot was moving rapidly towards Fircrest.  Smitty meanwhile had gotten cold and hungry and walked into a McDonald’s.  After buying a Big Mac, Smitty was off towards the transit center at TCC.  By then Nicodemus and Hudson were able to deduce where he was headed and contacted Pierce Transit to hold their buses for two minutes until they arrived.  Approximately 30 minutes after the initial phone call was made, Smitty, a volunteer with Search and Rescue was “safe”.

In a world filled with the threat of exposure, drowning, or accidents, the ability to quickly recover an individual may be the difference between a scare and a horror.  Sgt Trent Stephens, a supervisor with Pierce County Sheriff’s Department who has been involved with Search and Rescue for 10 years and an advocate for EmFinders for years said that some of the most vulnerable people cannot help themselves.  Concern for those individuals has led to a collaborative effort between several local agencies in Pierce County to support a system called EmFinders.  Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor defined Search and Rescue as involving “uncertainty and danger.”  EmFinders reduces that uncertainty and danger, he added.

EmFinders utilizes cellular technology rather than GPS.  The benefit of cellular over GPS is that GPS does not work inside buildings or heavily wooded areas as it needs a clear line of sight said Harry Smeenk, EmFinders vice president.  EmSeeQ is basically a cell phone, which, when activated calls 911 and then gives longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates to within 50 feet to 911 operators utilizing all available cell towers regardless of their vendor.  Those operators are then able to tell police and fire department personnel local street locations.  EmFinders has successfully rescued 98 individuals with an average time of 17 minutes.  To protect individual’s privacy, EmSeeQ is not activated until an emergency is reported.

Project LOCATE is a program of PAVE that began this month.  PAVE, a nonprofit organization that supports families with loved ones with disabilities will sell the device and provide training to parents, professionals and community members to increase support for the device.  Paula McCullough, a parent advocate and PAVE volunteer championed the need for EmFinder in Pierce County to locate loved ones prone to wandering.  McCullough said that autistic children like her son Tanner are especially prone to bolting and hopes other families follow suit with acquiring one of the devices.  “Taking Tanner out in public is scary to say the least,” she said.   “We probably hear of our elderly wandering more often than our disabled children.  I’m really excited to see it used in that arena as well,” she said.  “Older individuals have the additional problem with being frail,” she added.

Through funding provided by Pierce County Community Connections, scholarships for some devices are available.  ARC of Washington also presented PAVE with a check for $500 for additional scholarships.  To be eligible for a scholarship, individuals must be a Pierce County resident, be currently eligible for services from the Division of Developmental Disabilities and can prove financial need.

Private citizens can contact PAVE but Paul Calta, a supervisor with Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) recommended that the aging population that already has a case manager should talk to their case manager about the possibility of it being treated by the Community Options Program Entry System (COPES) like that program already treats special beds or Lifeline.  Family caregivers (unpaid caregivers) that aren’t part of the COPES program can still check out the website at www.projectlocate.org for information on the price of the device and EmFinders Service Plan.

If you would like to make a donation to the program, you can do so by phone at (253) 565-2266 or contact them at PAVE, Attn: Project LOCATE, 6316 South 12thSt, Tacoma, WA 98465.

Bonnie Dickson by — January 12, 2012 in Spotlight

Gail Kouame, consumer health outreach coordinator for National Network of Libraries of Medicine, will share how to find trusted health information on the Internet and recommend techniques for evaluating health-related websites. Kouame will present the information at a free event at the Bonney Lake Library, 18501 90th St E. on Jan. 21 at 11 a.m.  Friends of the Bonney Lake Library are sponsoring the event—Go to the Web and say ahh:  Finding and evaluating online health information.  For additional information on this event, call 253-548-3308 or go here.

Press Release by — January 9, 2012 in Everything Else

Tacoma Councilman Marty Campbell called the 2011-2012 biennium budget “a lot of moving targets” at a meeting held at the Portland Avenue Park and Community Center on Jan. 4.  One of those moving targets involves the Lighthouse and Beacon Senior Centers.  The City of Tacoma needs to make up for a $31 million shortfall on top of the $40 million dollars worth of cuts the city made last year. At  $1.7 million per biennium, the two senior centers budgets make up a tiny portion of the city’s budget, however, the city hopes to reduce that expenditure to something in the neighborhood of $700,000 by merging the two senior centers.  Campbell said that he would like an extension of at least three months (until March) to entertain some options although in his discussions so far he felt the director was leaning on keeping the Beacon open and closing the Lighthouse.

The footprint of the Lighthouse Senior Center is around 7,000 square feet while the Beacon Senior Center is 13,000.  This would seem to indicate a logical choice however; the parking at the Beacon leaves a lot to be desired as it is in an area of downtown Tacoma with limited parking and extremely steep hills.  One recommendation Campbell had entertained prior to the meeting was to have seniors park at the parking garage across from Freight House Square and take a shuttle bus from there but Campbell said it wasn’t a good option.  Community members were quick to ask Campbell if it was even possible to fit all the members into just one facility should the parking consideration be resolved.

The Pt. Defiance/Ruston Senior Center operates through a shared program with Franke Tobey Jones, a retirement community near Pt. Defiance Park and one community member asked if there were any talks with organizations willing to share costs with the city.  Campbell admitted that the city was in talks with a few organizations that might be willing to “adopt” a senior center and carry half the costs for one or both of the centers.

“These are the only programs we do for seniors in the city and that’s such a fraction of the budget,” said one community member who advocated that the city find other options aside from closing one or the other senior center.  Another added, “They have so much to offer it’s amazing.  It’s a life saver.”

Campbell offered that the seniors were very effective at calling him but suggested that calls also be made to the rest of the council and the mayor.  “Be your own best voice,” he said.

Name Position E-mail Address
Marilyn Strickland Mayor Marilyn.Strickland@cityoftacoma.org
Anders Ibsen Position 1 Anders.Ibsen@cityoftacoma.org
Jake Fey Position 2 Jake.Fey@cityoftacoma.org
Lauren Walker Position 3 Deputy Mayor Lauren.Walker@cityoftacoma.org
Marty Campbell Position 4 Marty.Campbell@cityoftacoma.org
Joe Lonergan Position 5 Joe.Lonergan@cityoftacoma.org
Victoria Woodards At-Large Position 6 Victoria.Woodards@cityoftacoma.org
David Boe At-Large Position 7 David.Boe@cityoftacoma.org
Ryan Mello At-Large/ Position 8 Ryan.Mello@cityoftacoma.org

To contact the mayor or council members via snail mail, write to:

747 Market Street, Suite 1200
Tacoma, WA 98402-3766
To contact the mayor or council members via phone:  (253) 591-5100

Bonnie Dickson by — January 5, 2012 in Everything Else
Free Tax Sites Throughout Pierce County

Tax season startsYou know what they say about death and taxes.  Don’t put off doing yours until the last minute.  If you need help the Pierce County Asset Building Coalition helps working and low-income individuals and families save money through free tax preparation help.  Volunteers assist in the preparation of simple federal tax forms and file the returns electronically to speed the receipt of refunds.  Credit unions and banks are also present at some of these sites to give tax filers who do not have existing checking or saving accounts the opportunity to establish one prior to filing their returns.  By having an account, filers can receive their refunds faster through direct deposit.  The PCABC cannot prepare taxes for individuals who own their own business, received any capital gains or losses in the sale of stock, or own a home and paid in excess of $5,000 in mortgage interest.  The list of free tax preparation sites is available at here.  Days and operation of sites vary. Please call the site nearest to you to confirm hours of operation.

Press Release by — January 4, 2012 in Everything Else