PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. – A young boy with autism is safe after he disappeared in Pittsylvania County early Wednesday morning.
11-year-old Gabriel Mitchell went missing from his home on Mountain Lane in Keeling, and after an hours-long search, he was found.
Mitchell was lucky, but not everyone is, according to Candi Spitz, Project Lifesaver Director of Ambassador Relations and Public Relations.
“It’s heartbreaking knowing that there are services available, there are people that can help you, there’s so much help in our community, but not everyone knows that it’s there,” Spitz said.
Spitz works for Project Lifesaver. It’s a program through your local law enforcement, a bracelet that tracks children with mental impairments or elderly people suffering from Alzheimer’s or a similar disease.
“Unlike GPS, radio frequency is the most foolproof tracking service available,” Spitz said. “It’s not going to be blocked in a body of water, in a garage, anywhere like if you don’t get a Wi-Fi signal on your phone, you’re not going to have that problem with radio frequency technology, which is why we use that service.”
Spitz said 54 clients are currently using Project Lifesaver in Pittsylvania County, though Mitchell was not one of them.
“Knowing that your child is protected, knowing that you have a relationship with your local law enforcement officer, for me as a parent, is all that matters,” Spitz said.
Spitz is a mom of twins who have autism, so she knows firsthand how important a program like Project Lifesaver can be.
“The problem with most of our children is they don’t have stranger danger, and they have no safety awareness,” Spitz said. “My children will walk into traffic, my children will answer good or yes to every single question and not necessarily understand what is being asked of them, so in a blink of the eye they could be gone.”