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POINT PLEASANT — A program which provides tracking bracelets for Alzheimer’s patients and those suffering with other disabilities just got a financial boost.

The Robert and Louise Claflin Foundation recently presented the Mason County Commission with a check for $4,575 for Project Lifesaver at the Mason County Sheriff’s Department.

The money will be used to purchase more tracking bracelets for the program. The county asked for $4,200 for 15 transmitter kits (each provides equipment necessary to monitor one person) and $375 for one set of transmitter decals (the decals identify the bands as Mason County property and gives instructions and a contact number in the event of a problem).

When applying for the grant, County Administrator John Gerlach told the Claflin Foundation the Project Lifesaver program is made available to Mason County families with a special needs individual who needs to be monitored. The program provides wrist bands for Alzheimer’s patients (and others with dementia-related disorders or other disabilities) that assist the sheriff’s department in locating them should they get lost or wander away. The program is also available to younger patients with disabilities such as autism.

Gerlach told the Claflin Foundation there was a need for this program because after the sheriff’s department received its initial grant to purchase the monitoring device, it was supplied with a limited amount of wristband monitors. Gerlach said the program has become more popular and the county is in need of additional wristbands to meet demand.

“Many of these families have limited resources to begin with and would have difficulty in purchasing this life saving equipment,” Gerlach wrote in his grant application.

The ultimate goal of the program in the county is that in the event of an incident where an affected individual becomes lost, they are quickly located before any harm or loss of life takes place.

“It also provides much needed peace of mind to families that are already dealing with the day to day challenges of caring for these patients,” Gerlach told the Claflin Foundation.