Love Our Good Samaritans

 Our boy Jay wearing his patch and getting ready to hike!!

Sports Park:

A five-year-old non-verbal boy with Autism was with his family in a giant packed park for a soccer tournament. After each match the teams, and families would pack up and move to another field for the next match. During one such move, both parents thought the other had the child. After the move to the next field both parents realized at the same time that the boy was with neither of them. By the time they began to look for their son they received a call from a person that had found their child in another part of the park and scanned the patch sewn to his shirt. He was quickly reunited with his parents.

Ranger Rescue:

A family was having their annual reunion camping trip. The mom was very nervous about her 12-year-old daughter with Autism and sewed an If I Need Help patch on her vest. Sure enough when they were camping the child wandered. She was found some time later over a mile away by a Ranger who saw her If I Need Help patch, scanned it, and saw her profile. The profile told him who she was, her medical issues, and in what campsite her family was camped. He immediately drove her to the campsite for a successful reunion with her family.

Panic Attack:

A young adult with very high functioning autism (She can work and drive a car) has a history of panic attacks when in what she perceives to be stressful situations, and confronted by what she perceives to be authority figures. She has had many negative interactions with people in these situations including being screamed at and beaten. During these times she cannot speak, control her body, or express herself. She contacted If I Need Help and we created an If I Need Help card for her to carry with her. This card has a QR Code to access her profile, as well as text to describe who she is, what her health and emotional issues are, an emergency phone number, and how best to help her. Recently she was in a situation when she felt an imminent anxiety attack. An official approached her in an all-too-familiar way, which in the past has typically escalated. In this instance, she was able to hand her iD card to him, where he was able to understand the best course of action was to speak to her calmly and help her relax. She was able to regain calm, avoid a full anxiety attack, and communicate independently and successfully.