Search and rescue recognises contribution (WanderSearch)

When Delanie Halton became WanderSearch's only full time worker, she had just enough money for six months salary.

Three years later she's been acknowledged for her contribution to search and rescue.

The Aucklander first joined Land Search & Rescue as a volunteer search member in 2000 and moved into management.

She became involved with WanderSearch in 2009 because she was often called to find people with dementia who were difficult to find.

"It can be really resource intensive. You can have 20 people out there for five, six hours," she says.

"We wanted something that would help us find a person faster,"

WanderSearch distributes a radio frequency transmitter tracking device which is used to define a search area and has about a 5 kilometre radius.

A receiver, which searchers have, picks up a pulse being emitted from the tracking device and the pulse becomes louder the closer it gets to the tracking device. On average it takes 60 to 90 minutes to find someone using it.

It's for is for anyone living with a cognitive impairment with the potential to wander. From autism to dementia.

Halton started as a volunteer managing the programme and became coordinator in 2013.

She's received a New Zealand Search & Rescue Council Gold Award for her work at a ceremony in Parliament on May 24.

"I feel honoured to be recognised. It's not just a job, it's a passion," she says.

"I'm not doing this for recognition, I'm doing it for families and keeping older couples together for longer."

Halton says it's helping families not the award that makes it worth it.

"I've issued them out and just seen the stress lift off someone's shoulders and that's the biggest thank you you can get," she says.

"Having this gives them that breathing space."

In three years the North Shore based organisation's client list has risen from 100 to 240 and covers Wellsford to Tuakau.

One device costs $350 to issue and the organisation relies on donations and grants but doesn't require them from users. Halton says it's for those that need it, not necessarily those that can afford it.