Montgomery County Police Department Officer Laurie Reyes talks to NPR about the Autism and Dementia Unit that saves lives and helps families in Maryland.
Mary Louise Kelly, host:
Families of people with severe autism or dementia face special caregiving challenges. One of them is the fear of losing a loved one. When a person with autism wanders away from their caregivers or home, there can be serious, even fatal consequences. Well, that didn't happen for six people, sometimes called elopers, last Tuesday in Montgomery County, Maryland. That's thanks to a unique program from the Montgomery County Police Department. It's Officer Laurie Reyes' idea, and now she's joining me.
Laurie Reyes: Hello. hello. thank you for the invitation.
KELLY: Tell us more about what happened Tuesday in Montgomery County.
REYES: First of all, thank you for talking about the profoundness of autism, because it's a spectrum. And in this case, there have been several instances where our officers or the community have located an individual with autism who is in immediate danger. In many cases, caregivers found them before they could call 911.
KELLY: What is the mechanism? For example, how do your officers know? How do you help them get back to safety?
REYES: So first of all, when we train officers, I use a little catchphrase. Consider autism. This means that you may be stimulated by a phone call from someone in the middle of the street. The officer might be thinking, wow, that person might not be autistic, he might be autistic. Maybe they misunderstand that they are under the influence of something. It is our training and experience that has led us to have positive, safe interactions and to reunite with our loved ones.
Kelly: Hmm. Is six cases per day an unusually high number in your county?
Reyes: Yes. We usually use an average of 3 to 8 per week.
KELLY: And as I was reading, without going into details that might invade anyone's privacy, it seemed like some of the cases that occurred last Tuesday involved children. It was about a young man who wandered off or entered a neighbor's house. type?
Reyes: Yes. Some wandered into neighboring homes. The couple was found very close by, at an intersection or in a parking lot, a very dangerous place for both of them.
KELLY: Yeah. The program you created within the police department is the Autism/IDD Alzheimer's and Dementia Support Unit. Please tell me when and how you came up with the idea.
REYES: So 2004 is the 20th anniversary. But this unit began not only as a response to this wandering and disengagement, but also as a response to the emergence of a crisis. So we wanted to provide education, support, empowerment, follow-up and response at all levels to support not only caregivers but all people across the full spectrum of autism.
KELLY: I can hear the dedication in your voice. It's quite lovely. And I was wondering if you could tell us what difference that scale made. For example, how many interactions do you have in a typical year in Montgomery County?
REYES: So one of the keys to our unit is to provide follow-up. Last year we provided over 600 follow-ups to families, and this year we will probably do closer to 1,000. And that follow-up is telling the family that yes, we may have found your child in the middle of an intersection and we want to support you. Yes? We want to be there for you.
The impact is therefore on the caregiver, i.e. the individual. You know, we go into schools and talk to people who are on the autism spectrum. We offer driving classes for people who drive or have autism. So the impact is creating what I call a culture of action rather than just perception in Montgomery County. That means we're here for you as you navigate your loved one's or your own level of independence.
KELLY: That's Officer Lori Reyes of the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland. Thank you very much.
REYES: Thank you for having me.
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