New way to keep seniors safe

KETTERING, Ohio (WDTN) - Robert Weisgarber just wanted to take his daily walk around the mall.

The only problem was it was 3:30 a.m.

"My mother could not convince him it wasn't 10 o'clock in the morning," says Robert's daughter Jeanne McKinnon.

So Robert, suffering from the early stages of dementia, got in his vehicle and left his Kettering home.

"She thought he'll see that it's closed and come home," McKinnon says.

Ten years later that case still sticks with Kettering Patrolman Edward Drayton.

"There was just something else I had to do," Drayton says. "I had to come up with some kind of idea."

What he came up with is the Kettering Safe Senior Program. The voluntary program is for any senior with Alzheimer's and for seniors and children with disabilities.

"Instead of being reactive we wanted to be proactive so we're doing this for citizens before it becomes a crisis," Drayton says.

The program's biggest feature is what's called the File of Life, which will contain personal and vehicle information along with an updated photo, so police can immediately start looking for the missing person.

"You call as soon as you can," Drayton says. "We have many more resources than you do. Let us go out and find your loved one."

Other features are a lock box so police don't have to break down a door if you have a medical emergency and a medical ID bracelet.

McKinnon thinks the program could have made a difference for her dad.

"They could have got him home in possibly minutes," McKinnon says.

Instead hours after he left home he was involved in a fatal crash in Lebanon, not far from where he used to work.

After that day, Drayton would check in on Robert's wife Claudia.

Now she stays with McKinnon in another city.

McKinnon hopes others will adopt Kettering's model because now Claudia could use the program inspired by her husband's story and an officer's hard work.

"I think it would be great for every city," McKinnon says.

To sign up for the program in Kettering call 296-2566.