Pam Heinhold, f
ounder of “Operation Take Me Home” was our speaker, last Wednesday. She has a grandchild that is autistic and does not speak. About 9 years ago they lost him for a short time at a museum and as a result of that, she looked into what programs were available to help with the problem of a child not being able to speak and being inadvertently separated from his parents.
She found that there was a program that provided a wrist band with a radio transmitter for people that could not speak or had problems such as Alzheimer’s.
After doing her research she began “Operation Take Me Home” under the auspices of the Don Mills Achievement Center. Wrist band transmitters were purchased and area first responders were trained in locating the transmitters. At the time the program was started the transmitters were $425 each, now they are about $250. There are nine children and adults in the program. Pam is responsible for replacing the batteries in the units and the cost of $6.00 per battery change is the only cost to the participants.