Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Shining Inspiring Voices of Autism with show host Jennifer Dantzler. My name is Amelia and I have autism. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the world of autism. If you enjoy what you hear today, don't forget to follow this podcast.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Hey, everyone, this is Jennifer Dantzler, and I'm the executive director and founder of inspirend, a nonprofit whose mission is to create truly inclusive communities through education and engagement. The goal of this podcast is to shine a light on real people and their stories in hopes of inspiring others who are on this journey of autism. Either themselves, their child, their loved one, their co worker. I truly believe ignorance is not bliss, and we cannot be inclusive communities if we do not understand the people in the community.
With autism now affecting 1 in 31 people, we need to get louder about this topic. We recognize that autism is a spectrum. There are a lot of people with a lot of different needs, a lot of resources available or none available. And we know that in every episode we can't meet everyone's needs for their specific interest.
However, we hope that in each episode you do gleam some kind of insight as to how you can help your child or yourself be a better advocate. And as we go through our podcasts, our goal really is to address the entire spectrum, the various needs, the various environments that we're going to be in. And we hope that there's something in every episode for each one of you. So let's get started.
Today we have a really neat guest. We have Angelina Farris with us, who's the founder and executive director of bluesar. And I think you're all going to find this really, really interesting. So, Angelina, thank you for being here.
[00:01:32] Speaker C: Thank you for having me.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Today we're going to talk a little bit about Blues, little bit about what Blue Star is and why it got started.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: So Blue Star is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that focuses on the search and recovery and rescue of missing persons with a very special emphasis and focus on vulnerable individuals. So those on the autism spectrum, those with dementia, with other ID'd, with other intellectual disabilities, and also those just experiencing a mental health episode. Right. That may or may not be diagnosed. So there is a special focus on those individuals.
[00:02:05] Speaker B: So this is fascinating. When my director of development found you all, I was just really fascinated because this, unfortunately, is such a need, drowning, number one cause of death and autism. We know we have a lot of people on the spectrum, people with dementia, for that matter. As you said, that wandering is unfortunately a real problem. So tell me a little bit about what Blue Star does.
[00:02:25] Speaker C: So typically we get requests from law enforcement who inform us of a missing person. And so they will give us a lot of the information, whether they are diagnosed, not diagnosed, what information they have. Our goal is to deploy as soon as possible. So we're trying to work that with law enforcement to get the calls even sooner while that person is still safe, can be found, versus waiting maybe until that information is complete. So because we have sky now, which we'll talk about later. Yes, because we have a Sky who is a sand discriminant bloodhound, it is critical to get that sent early on. We get a case, we get a information about a missing person, and we deploy out quickly to start searching for that person prior to going out. There's a lot of work that goes into it, but that is the goal, to get out there and start assisting in that search that law enforcement is also involved with, and usually the family and community as well.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Okay, so I know we're going to talk about sky, and you know, we're going to think of this sort of in terms of a police dog, but it's different. So we're going to talk a little bit more about that. But before we do that, what inspired the development and creation of blusar?
[00:03:30] Speaker C: The specific need for vulnerable individuals. We were involved with many searches where the searches went on for days, sometimes for someone who is on the autism spectrum or someone with dementia. And every single time I thought, you know, I know that these dogs is exist somewhere, right, that don't they track or trail or something. And there's a lot of differences between that. There's all types of dogs and all types of training. And it just seemed like there had to be a better way or an alternate way, maybe not necessarily better, but an alternate way to get out there quicker and find some answers sooner. Especially with children who are on the autism spectrum that we know are attracted to water, gravitate towards water. If we can identify which body of water quickly, that can certainly help the recovery.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: So that's part of what sky does. Is sky trained to go to the closest body of water or follow the scent?
[00:04:20] Speaker C: To follow the scent, that person's specific scent. So there's a lot that goes into that as well. But she is trained for that person's scent. So what's going to matter is how we capture that scent and how early on we capture that scent. All of that makes a difference. So to her, it doesn't matter if it's water or a forested area. That doesn't matter. It's the fact that she's going to follow that person's scent to where that person is. And that's what's important. My point is that if we can identify which body of water quicker, then that recovery can happen quicker versus having families for several days just in sheer panic wondering where their child is, when we know many times that's usually going to be the result.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: So is that part of what then your staff does too, to help compliment the police department? And like, looking for those bodies of water or outside of what you see in the movies, like, how does the search and rescue really look when you
[00:05:16] Speaker C: see anyone searching for someone? What you see usually on the news or even in shows and movies, you just see a bunch of people out looking around. What typically happens with most search and rescue groups is there's a lot of work that goes into it before anyone is even out in the field. You've looked for information, you've gotten information, you have looked at maps, you have looked at. Just there's a gamut of information that you need to prepare so that you can send your searchers to the area with the most likely result. So once you're out in the field. Yes. Then you have a specific area you're searching here, you're doing what you need to do. What we're bringing to the table is having an additional resource that can give us even more specific direction and instruction to where that child may be. So, for example, the reason we chose this particular breed and dog and trainer is because they track a lot of their data with all of the dogs that they have trained over the years. It is really truly fascinating to see the sooner you get to a location where that person went missing, usually you have everyone out. Right. Police is out, searchers are out, family and community are out. Many times what you notice is the dog can either get you very close to where that person may have been because they may have continued to walk in and then gotten into a car. So then it gives you a point of interest and then it allows law enforcement to even quickly gather more video and information.
Whereas that could have taken 12 to 24 hours longer if you're just going step by step from the very initial point of where they went missing. She should be helping to save time and one, hopefully find them while they're still safe. Right. But two, if not, get everyone closer sooner to finding that person.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Where did you get sky again? What kind of breed is Sky? Tell me about Sky.
[00:06:59] Speaker C: So sky is an AKC certified black and tan bloodhound. And we secured her from scent evidence Canine. This is a group out of Florida. They have for many years trained this specific breed specifically for scent discrimination. So you have cadaver dogs, tracking dogs, trailing dogs. There's all types of training. She is one discipline, which is also unique because many times you'll see a lot of either police dogs or SAR dogs have multi discipline. We wanted her to only do this, only train for this, and only do this. So it's sent discriminate trailing, which means she's not following imprints in the ground, which is what a tracking dog does.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:07:36] Speaker C: She is following a scent and it is specific to that person. So even if there's five people in the house, we are going to secure a scent and then she's going to follow that scent. So that's what makes her unique. And usually many departments, it's difficult to sell that to your police department. We're going to have a dog for one discipline. Well, usually it's. They can be trained to do two or three things. And so we wanted to bring this to our general area, surrounding counties, as an added resource. I think there may be a few more coming down the line and which will be great. But we're still talking about a city population of what, 2.4 million people. And if you add the surrounding counties, we're about 7.9. So that's a lot of people. Yeah. And I think we're at 23% in Houston are over the age of 55. So 55 to 75. And that's a very vulnerable population, which 55 is young.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Right, Right.
[00:08:29] Speaker C: What happens is you have a lot of individuals who are not diagnosed with early onset dementia. A lot of the bulk of the adults that we have searched for are between the ages of 55 and 75.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: We are in Houston, Texas area. So this service right now is in the Houston, Texas area?
[00:08:43] Speaker C: Correct, it's in the Houston, Texas area. But we also provide service to any of the neighboring counties. I mean, Houston is actually comprised of three counties. So you have Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend County. If Houston lies within those counties, then you have all of the other neighboring counties. So it is for the general area. I mean, anyone who needs assistance will be happy to help. But we are located in Houston, and that's primarily our main area of service at the moment.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: Sky is how old now?
[00:09:08] Speaker C: She is 11 months old.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Okay. And has she done any actual trips, if you will?
[00:09:13] Speaker C: So she's gone out several times. And the person was found as we were arriving. We were called early on. So we were starting to get called sooner, which is what? When it makes a difference. And that's okay because we are still able to run a trail and we can still practice with her.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:28] Speaker C: It's never a loss.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: First of all, when I first heard about this, my thought was, how is she then different than other like police dogs? Which you addressed that she's a scent hound. What does she do when she finds that person?
[00:09:44] Speaker C: So that's what makes her unique as well. And that was exactly why in our research we picked this particular group and this training. When she finds someone, her alert is a sit alert. So she's not going to bark, she's meant to sit. Because if you have somebody who has dementia, who's confused, maybe who's been out lost for a day or two or three, or a child, the last thing you need is a barking dog in that moment. They're effective anyway. If we are searching for these vulnerable individuals, you want that alert to be something that does not make the situation worse for the person. And so that's a difference too. I mean, when we were researching this, there were dogs that are multi discipline and it's like, well, they're used to barking or they're used, you know, and then if the person, am I going to say attacks them. But if the person reacts or has some sort of reaction, if the dog is trained a different way, they can react too. And so we specifically take her anywhere we can. So she continues to be used to people, which is how she was trained. So we take her to events, we take her to fairs, we take her around children, we take her around anywhere that we can. So she's always continuously used to being around a multitude of people. But that's her alert. Her alert is to sit and so she finds a message, just kind of sits down and then you know that that's it. So she'll smell around the person and that's it.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: Well, and I know when my team met your team and that was one of the things, when they came back and reported to me, it was right. Because the things we don't think about, they are trained to, yes, corral attack, like you said, subdued the person. And you're so right that with autism dementia, someone having a mental break, they don't need that, they just really need to be contained and authorities alerted. Doing more of that might even exacerbate whatever they're feeling in the moment. So you know, that's one of those things you just don't think about. And then when you think about it, you're like that's a duh moment. Like, of course that's better. You know, you just don't think about those things. Things, unfortunately, probably until you need them.
[00:11:29] Speaker C: Right. And then when you think about the entire, you know, that that family continues, that person continues, you don't want to add additional trauma to their lives. You know, you don't want to add additional. If next time they see a dog, then it becomes, you know, Right. So it's everything you're kind of thinking of, not just the day of, but then you're also thinking beyond that day. So, you know, it's a service, it's a resource.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: So let's talk about the scent for a second because the key here is for the dog to have the person scent. And again, when my team met with your team and they relayed back information, I thought, yep, again, this is things you don't think about. So talk a little bit about the, what parents should do to acquire the scent and make sure it's the person's scent.
[00:12:11] Speaker C: There's a few different ways to capture that scent. You don't want their items to be contaminated with anyone else's scent. You want them to secure their room wherever they were last seen. Right. You, you, you kind of just rather secure their room. What ends up happening is when someone goes missing, especially of, of a vulnerable person, everyone descends on the home. Everyone's looking through the room 10, 20 times through. So the more people you get, there's more and more sense. So one of the things that we hope to educate the community on is if you have someone who is autistic or has dementia or IDD mental health, anything, and they go missing, secure their room or wherever they last were so that we can retrieve an article that is of their scent exclusively. And that can be pajamas they want wore that night, something in, in the hamper that's only theirs, things that haven't been touched by someone else, it just makes it quicker for us to capture that scent and that's not always possible. So the dog is trained to scent off of everyone who's there. But, you know, the more people are there, the more persons you have to send off of. So we need to educate on that and that that's going to fall on us to do that. And through your collaboration, I think that will help us as well. But there are several ways. So yes, it can be a piece of clothing that is there in their home that the person was wearing or that they slept in. We can use that with Sky. We also have a scent kit and so that I think is really, really interesting because if you already have somebody in your home that is special needs or is vulnerable, you have this opportunity now for us to help you create the scent kit to have this scent. And what it'll do is there's a gauze that's included and it takes a scent of the person. So it's either from the armpit or behind the knee. There are certain areas that are more, more particular or more helpful. We either swab them about 10 times or just keep this gauze in for about three minutes or so. That scent then goes into this glass container and then it's sealed and etc, so we know like that's not going to be compromised. And it's. We have instructions for where it should be kept and all that kind of thing. So that if that person goes missing and we're called, they already have a scent kit. So we don't even have to go to that sweatshirt or those pajamas or anything else. And we can just use that second kit, give it to sky, she gets it and she's out. The other method that we have is through a machine that we also purchased from Sentiments Canine. The simplest way I can explain it, it's like a vacuum. So let's say that they don't have a scent kit. Let's say they were at a park and this is a child's car seat and or booster seat. The child walked away from the park. We can actually go to that booster seat or car seat and use the seeker machine to take the scent. So it'll vacuum the scent from that car seat and it'll go again into the gauze, into the glass jar and we can use that for Sky. We had a situation the other day where there was a gentle missing and we thought, oh, perfect scenario for sky to get his son and go look for him. It was just the perfect scenario on paper. Then we learned that they were at a rental property, so they weren't even near their home. And it was like, okay, what would we have done in this situation? Because even if they had a scent kit, unless they had it with them, it wouldn't have mattered, right? It was at home. So that was a lesson for us in when we begin to explain and train and teach on how the scent works and how scent kits work is, hey, if you're traveling with your loved ones, take it with you.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: I was just gonna ask. It doesn't need to be refrigerated or anything. So not refrigerated.
[00:15:19] Speaker C: Okay, but you want it to be secured where not anyone is just going to go and open it or just out of curiosity because you want that scent to just, you know, not be compromised. But it doesn't have to be refrigerated if you're taking your kids to Disney World, if you're, you know, anywhere. Because even if we're not there, if there is another scenting dog that's available, they can do the same thing. You already have the scent.
[00:15:39] Speaker B: Right.
[00:15:39] Speaker C: But it's nothing that we had really thought about or knew until we went onto this journey and researched and we thought, well, that is just amazing. I know I would want to have one.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:48] Speaker C: If I had a child at home or someone of special needs that needed it.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Absolutely. So you know the answer to that is have multiple scent kits. Right. And then maybe have a jar in every car. And, and especially if you're going out of town, as you're putting your hotel reservations in your phone, like add a reminder to bring the scent jar on your. Because those are the kinds of things that when it's going to happen. Right, right, right.
[00:16:10] Speaker C: And it's also, it's how you get the sense. So that's what we hope to teach as well. I mean it's, you know, we want to make sure that that is actually taken properly.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: So are those kits available now through.
[00:16:20] Speaker C: They are available. They are available. So we'll have to give you guys that information.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: Okay, so is, are they on your website or how can people.
[00:16:26] Speaker C: They're not, but they will be.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: Okay. Okay, great. Well, we can certainly have that published with. It will be within the show notes and, and we will certainly put all that on our website as well. And then hopefully there'll be like a video QR code for a video or something so people can learn how to use them. And it sounds pretty low tech. It's not even complicated. We don't need to know how to use AI. We don't need. We need to know how to use some gauze and a mason jar. Not to simplify it, but it's really that simple and really, truly could be
[00:16:52] Speaker C: life saving parents of children with autism or any other special need or caregivers who are taking care of adults with special needs. You're doing so much already, right? You try, you try the air tag, you try that. And there's so many things, but why not this one additional thing that should something happen after all that you've tried to prevent it, should it happen, that's gonna save you the time when you really, really, truly most need it.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: We do a Lot of training on things like. Yes, like the airtags and the clothes that have GPS in them and in the shoelace, but not shoes. Don't matter if the kid doesn't put the shoes on before they go wandering or, you know, takes the bracelet or necklace off or what have you. And so as many of those systems as you can have. We have many people on the spectrum who don't wander, but the ones who do try to wander often and a lot, or maybe not wander, but, oh, today's Tuesday. I'm supposed to go to Walmart. Mom's sick, so we can't go, but I'm gonna go anyway. But they might not understand the best way to get to Walmart. So they might have taken a detour. And so we can't just go to Walmart and find them. In that same vein, are there any misconceptions about people who wander or the search and rescue that we should educate the community about.
[00:18:02] Speaker C: A large part of the community in general still thinks you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing. I think because the shows kind of
[00:18:09] Speaker B: teach you that, right?
[00:18:11] Speaker C: So you do not. You do not have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing. There's sometimes this either denial or embarrassment if they don't have all the information. And it's almost like sometimes families want to paint a better picture of the situation. And what's really critical and crucial in that moment is just be completely honest. It's okay if you don't know the shirt color they had on. I'd rather you say I don't know than say they were wearing a purple shirt.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: Right.
[00:18:34] Speaker C: And a lot of times, I think families in those moments, just, they're in crisis. And then you think of all the legal things that may come into play in that moment. You know, these things happen, right? I mean, as much as you try to prevent it, these things happen. That makes it a little bit difficult. Just be honest. Whatever happened, however it happened, if you do know what they were wearing, if you don't, it's better to provide just concrete, good information, even if it's minimal versus assumption.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: Again, wouldn't have thought about that either. And parents feeling the pressure or the caregiver of someone, you know, older that they don't know most days would not have been able to tell you what my children were wearing when they went off to school. Even when I got them dressed. Like, I don't know that I could have told you that information.
[00:19:14] Speaker C: I think there's also a big assumption when there are Adults in group homes that there's cameras everywhere. Last I checked. I don't think it's required. That is critical. So if your loved one does. If you have your, your loved one in a facility or in a group home or somewhere, don't just assume that there's cameras and then they know which direction they took. So even in your home, it is very difficult with adults, especially if they're not diagnosed, but the families are noticing some changes. A lot of people do not want to infringe on adults privacy. And it's like, look, I get it, but you can have an external camera at your front door and back door. Just that shows what direction they took.
[00:19:52] Speaker B: Right.
[00:19:52] Speaker C: That will save law enforcement a lot of time.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: Right.
[00:19:55] Speaker C: You know, I can't tell you countless of times that we've been out in situations and there's not a single camera.
[00:19:59] Speaker B: You know, even little things like that where we all get ring or whatever the system is, and it's usually on our driveway. But maybe it's worth paying for that one additional camera that's facing the street because I don't know from my house right now whether you'd be able to truly tell what direction. You know, I can see my Amazon driver's face really well, but that's about it.
[00:20:18] Speaker C: Right?
[00:20:19] Speaker B: Right. I couldn't tell you what direction someone went after leaving my house. So those are just the little things to think about that aren't hard to add.
[00:20:27] Speaker C: They aren't. It's so interesting because it's not just setting up the camera, but also learning your settings. There have been situations where it's like, oh, yeah, we have a camera. Okay, well, you have it to not recording. It's just live. It just shows up an alert on your phone. Now we can't see what happened. Right. So it's also taking that time to learn the system, doing some research, finding the right camera system, having those systems in place will save time. And I think that's, that's the, the message, right, is to save time.
[00:20:53] Speaker B: If that happens, who calls you? The parent or the first responders or both.
[00:20:58] Speaker C: So at this time, it's law enforcement who calls us with any type of assistance that they may need or a request for assistance. And that means that someone has been reported missing to them, they feel that it qualifies in some way for us to assist. And then they call us and give us the information. And then we set up our own system internally and deploy. We're open to and discussing having families call us directly, but I think that needs to Be really specific to families of vulnerable individuals, because that's where the timing matters. So we're going to figure out how to best approach that because, okay, you can report them missing if they're diagnosed or if there is a special need of some sort. And maybe we've already been in communication, maybe we, maybe you have a scent kit from us, then you can call us. I mean, that's not going to hurt that we're going to go out and search for your missing person who is either autistic or has dementia or has some sort of cognitive impairment. Why not? Right. But we take our direction from law enforcement at this time. We will always take direction from law enforcement if it's a homicide case or anything else like that has a criminal element. But when we're talking about vulnerable individuals, that's like having a silver alert out there. Well, all of you can look.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:22:09] Speaker C: So. So there's a difference there.
[00:22:11] Speaker B: But a parent, if they know about you from this podcast or what have you, could still tell the law enforcement. I want to include them or bring them in to the system in case that law enforcement agency doesn't know about you. Correct, Correct.
[00:22:23] Speaker C: Because many don't at this time. Yeah. The family can certainly let the inform the detective or the agency and say, hey, you know, like their assistance. They have this dog. Absolutely.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: How does the funding for this work?
[00:22:35] Speaker C: So we are a non profit, so we, we operate through donations. There are four founders of Bluesar and we've all put in a lot of our own, own resources. We did get many donations for sky, so that was like our big fundraiser that we launched because we really wanted to secure her and secure her early. And so we did get donations for her, which was amazing.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:22:54] Speaker C: And so, yeah, so we're fully funded by donations.
[00:22:57] Speaker B: Would law enforcement pay you if they use you?
[00:22:59] Speaker C: No, no. We do not charge law enforcement or families or.
[00:23:02] Speaker B: This is fully funded through donations, correct?
[00:23:04] Speaker C: Correct. Donations only. We do not charge anyone for any type of service.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: For those who want to support this wonderful, very needed, unfortunately needed organization. Where can people find you? How can people donate? Let's start there.
[00:23:16] Speaker C: We are on Facebook and all of our information is there. We also have our website and it shows exactly how to donate. We have different platforms, some that are at no fee. Checks are always welcome. Of course we have an address also
[00:23:28] Speaker B: listed and it's bluesar.org correct. So B L U E S A R okay. So that is where they can find you to make donations. But it's also where law enforcement or parents or whomever can find you. And then on the website right now is that. Can they email you if they want to get the scent kit today, they can email.
[00:23:50] Speaker C: They can also call or text. My phone number is posted as well. So that is also. We answer 24 7. So at any time that somebody would like to reach out, we are available via phone, via email, via text, text, via messenger.
[00:24:02] Speaker B: Is there a charge for the scent kit?
[00:24:04] Speaker C: There is not a charge for the scent kit at this time. So it just depends on the donations that we have and how much we can cover ourselves at this time. And so we'll have to reevaluate as we go on. We are in our initial year of being established, so it's going to take us a little time to be funded the way that we need to be funded.
Right now we have the capability of providing some of those send cats at no charge.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: If you're a community member and want to help support this organization, please reach out. If you're a first responder or a law enforcement agency, please, please, please, so that you can learn more about their service and how to contact them and not wait until we desperately need them, unfortunately, for a search and rescue. And if you're a family, look them up and get familiar, either to get the scent kits and. Or so that you can let law enforcement know yourself, God forbid you need them. And I think you brought up such a good point. I meant to mention earlier about, like, if they come, be honest that you don't know what your child was wearing that day. Because I also know for, you know, a third of our autistic population is profoundly autistic. And there are things that have to happen in the home that parents don't talk about. Tents over beds that have a lock at night so that they don't go wandering. Seatbelt locks in the car pantries all locked up. They might have holes in their walls from head banging. All the things that parents don't want to talk about. But at that point, all of that's got to go out the window. It's about finding the child.
[00:25:21] Speaker C: Exactly. My mother has dementia and the first seven years into this process, she was still able to walk just fine. And so if anybody came to my house, you would think it was like a, like a warden, you know, I mean, I had keys on me because I had to lock the different doors as you go in from one door to the other. And if I ever wanted to have respite, you just have to. And so to someone on the outside, quote, unquote, the outside that may look strange, but only you and your home know.
[00:25:49] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:49] Speaker C: What you need to do to keep that person safe and yourself, you know.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: Right.
[00:25:52] Speaker C: Some of your sanity.
[00:25:53] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: Well, and I think it's interesting as you're even saying that because probably dementia is even a little bit more accepted where if you walked into your home and saw that. But autism, you know, I would say as a whole community is still fairly ignorant unless you are in that realm of life. And so it surprises people, you know, back on Profound Autism Day, we actually handed out kits that had safety locks and seatbelt locks. And you saw some people that were like, wait, what? But what happens if there's an accident? And I say, yes, but what's way more dangerous is the child opening the car door. Going 85 miles an hour down the highway is more likely to kill them than the maybe possible accident where they can't get out of their car. And these are just the things that no one thinks about and talks about.
[00:26:36] Speaker C: That's exactly right. Yeah, that is exactly right. So one other thing I wanted to mention, if I may.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:26:41] Speaker C: About something that you can do as a preventative, because you want to prevent. Right. And families do so much to try and prevent. But should something happen, there are some things that would be wonderful if you had in place already. So something that we always look for when we do work with the family and we're searching for their loved one is if you already have readily available a list of their medications, the dosages of those medication, did they actually take them or not? Are they in the middle of a transition of medication? That makes a huge difference. Right. Because certain medications may make you way more alert and you can go way further or they may make you just very sleepy and maybe you're going to be closer under a tree or something like that. So knowing what medications are taken, taking, if they're in the middle of a transition, what the dosages are and when was the last time they took them, all of that. I know it sounds like that's too much. I'm, I'm looking for my kid. But if, if that can already be in place, that's always helpful. And what's also helpful, and I know this, this sounds, you know, again, I think it's one of those things that unless you're in it, you don't think about take a photo of your loved one every month, just have a photo.
You'd be surprised how much they change. Sometimes they may look the same to you because you're there every single day. Right. But if you're giving a description to someone to look for someone, especially if they just had a. A really significant shave, you know, or a really significant haircut.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: Take a photo or weight gain or loss.
[00:28:04] Speaker C: Weight gain or loss. Take a photo every month you have a close headshot and then just a full length. We have phones nowadays, right. We take photos all the time. It's just easier now to be able to do that. So taking photos. And then again, if you have a camera placed at your home at like an entry and exit door, whether it's the front door and the back door, the side door, garage, whatever, that's going to also be helpful to identify what clothing they were wearing. So that even if in that moment you're in a crisis and you just can't remember, there's a photo there. And it's amazing how everyone thinks colors are different. Right. If you say blue, if you say yellow, everyone has a different version of what that looks like.
[00:28:38] Speaker B: Right, Right.
[00:28:39] Speaker C: So if you have a photo, it just always helps to at least gear everyone in the right direction early on. And we always know they can take things off or things can change, but. But that's always important. That's one less thing they have to think about if they already have it.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: You know, literally set a reminder in your phone for every month on the 1st to just turn around and take a picture, like you said, close up and a full body of the person and just have your own. Maybe you even set a different folder on your phone that just says headshots or photos, just so it'd be readily. Again, find if you're panicked and can't even get to your pictures on your phone and you're just so rattled and no filters. Yes, oh yes, yes. That at that point.
[00:29:17] Speaker C: So.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: Right. And no. And not care about whether the dishes in the sink are in the background or whether or not the clothes are all in a heaping pile on the couch. None of that matters.
[00:29:28] Speaker C: Does not.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: It really does not.
[00:29:29] Speaker C: And that's what I think prevents a lot of people like, well, it's not the perfect scenario. Well, what's perfect? That's perfect to you in your home right now? Because that's your situation. That's okay. Yes, Right.
[00:29:38] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:29:39] Speaker C: One other thing for those that are driving because is there is a transition of a lot of children that are on the autism spectrum that turn 18. And so you have guardianship, you know, and sometimes that takes a long time to actually go through the process. So then you have this gap. So now you have an 18 year old adult who is not under anyone's guardianship, legally, technically, right. If they end up at a hospital, if they end up somewhere, if they end up anywhere, now they're an adult and they may not be able to communicate properly, the community may not perceive them the same way like they're thinking, just not really understand what their situation is. And that's always a very difficult time for families while they navigate that legal process. And so again, that's also why it's important to have that photo, have that information.
But, but that's a very difficult time for families. For adults that are driving, have a photo of that vehicle, all sides of the vehicle. Is there a really huge dent on the vehicle that's identifiable so that when you're searching for a vehicle, it's like, hey, it has that same dent or that bumper sticker. So have photos, you know, that's not something you have to do every month, but just have photos of the vehicle that person could potentially be driving or could drive. Think of a drone looking over, is there a moon roof? Is there a sunroof? Right. All of those things in the moment are less questions we have to ask and things that we already have and can go out in, in search even quicker.
[00:31:01] Speaker B: Okay, so, wow, wonderful. So many wonderful tools and not hard. Again, not high tech. You just maybe need to set up a half an hour every month or every couple months to just make sure you have your photos. Do you have the updated, you know, car photos? Is your camera system at home working and recording? Do you have it angled the right way? You know, all just little things that can make such a difference. Okay. This has been so fascinating. I tried truly appreciate you being here again for people who want to find you. It's Bluesar.org B L U E S A R.org we thank you so much for being here. And again, this is one of those non profits that's just so needed and so please reach out and support them. Thank you for being here.
[00:31:42] Speaker C: Thank you. Thank you for your time and your platform and the opportunity to do this. And this is what matters. And it reaches those individuals that really need to hear this and know that there's more options, more resource, and we're here.
So thank you for that.
[00:31:54] Speaker B: Absolutely. If you need help or resources, whether you're a parent, someone on the spectrum, a business or a community organization who want to know more or need help or want to share resources, please reach out to us at info.
[00:32:10] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us on Shining Through. Inspiring voices of Autism. If you enjoyed this episode Be sure to follow us. Leave a review and share it with others who want to celebrate neurodiversity. Until next time, keep shining.
