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One year ago today, Mattie Moore crossed her street to visit a neighbor. She vanished instead.
The 67-year-old woman, who suffered the confusion and memory loss of Alzheimer's disease, probably died trying to find her way back to her longtime northwest Atlanta home, family members say. Moore's skeletal remains were discovered Dec. 23 about 250 yards from her front door in a wooded area that had been searched repeatedly.
On Wednesday, Atlanta launched the second phase of a tracking and rescue program designed to find people like Moore faster.
At a news conference, Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington demonstrated how a transmitter the size of a quarter, sealed in a hospital-style plastic bracelet, can be worn by people with Alzheimer's. Individuals must live within the city limits of Atlanta and meet other criteria to be eligible for the device.
The signal from the transmitter is picked up by a mobile antenna and a receiver about the size of a car battery. Officers travel by car or helicopter to the area the missing person was last seen and start a pattern of searching until the signal is received.
The city purchased the initial equipment for $10,000. Private donations are being sought to cover the expense of bracelets, which cost $260 apiece and require $25 batteries every month.
In use by Fayette County Sheriff's Department and hundreds of other law enforcement agencies nationally, the device has already saved lives, said Gene Saunders, CEO of Project Lifesaver International, a nonprofit company specializing in electronic searches.
"There have been 1,124 searches initiated and all have been successful," Saunders said. "All the people were found safe and alive, most within 30 minutes."
Atlanta is the largest police department adopting the program, he said.
Moore's disappearance already led to "Mattie's Call," a rescue protocol Atlanta police invoke to find a missing person with mentally disabling conditions. Five such alerts have gone out since June, and all individuals were found and returned home, Pennington said.
The response was much different one year ago.
"The most alarming thing to me during the search for my mother was that the city of Atlanta did not have a process or procedure in place for this type of situation," said Kenneth Moore, one of Mattie and Jesse Moore's four children.
An immediate coordinated search is crucial for people with Alzheimer's because as the disease progresses, about 60 percent of them tend to wander from home and easily get disoriented, said Ginny Helms of the Alzheimer's Association, Georgia chapter. "It's very difficult to find them because they look just like anyone else," she said.
Atlanta City Councilwoman Felicia Moore, not relation to Mattie Moore's family, pushed for the city to adopt the "Mattie's Call" ordinance and for police to establish Project Lifesaver Atlanta.
"Mattie's Call will always be important because not all individuals with Alzheimer's will have or be able to afford the bracelets," said Felicia Moore. "It's a two-phase system to be able to [find] them."
Mattie Wright Moore was well known in her neighborhood for always helping with community, school and church projects, said Kenneth Moore, 46. As a tribute to her, the Mattie Call Foundation, founded by relatives, was established to help communities plan for searches that might have helped them find their own loved one alive.
"I think Mattie's Call has worked incredibly well," he said. "We want to help push it nationwide."
Copyright 2005 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
