GEORGIA, USA — For the Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue (GESAR), a metro Atlanta nonprofit that offers free resources to law enforcement and families to help find missing people, "time is critical."
The group, based in Gwinnett County, helps search for missing children and those who have disappeared after major disasters and evidence recovery. The group also helps search for missing people living with Alzheimer's and dementia.
John Clark, GESAR's vice president, has experienced loved ones battling the brain disease. He lost his grandparents to Alzheimer's about 20 years ago.
"I think of them every time because I grew up with my grandparents, and I wouldn't be anywhere without them," said Clark. "And there's a grandparent, a mother, a father, somebody's missing, and we got to find them. And it's important. Time is critical."
He elaborated on common misconceptions for those who disappear who are living with Alzheimer's.
"There's so many questions you need to ask for an Alzheimer's patient that you don't ask regularly for a criminal," said Clark. "The short-term memory is gone, and so they're looking back on their long-term memory and relying on that memory to tell them where to go. And we find out where that long-term memory is telling them to go, and we look for a certain place. They're usually not in the woods, and that's what people think."
GESAR's team is full of trained professionals ready to respond 24/7. They even offer training to local law enforcement agencies.
"We get calls almost every weekend now," Clark said.
The nonprofit's call load is increasing and time is of the essence. The group added a K-9 to the team, Maverick. The 7-month-old is still in training.
The team is eager for K-9 Maverick to be ready to go out and help people.
"He gives us one more person on the team, but it really gives us 10 more people on the team," Clark said.