Reflective decals distributed by Butler County Human Services for Project READY indicate to first responders that an occupant of the home or vehicle may not be able to respond as expected in the event of an emergency. The program was initiated by the Alliance for Nonprofit Resources in 2024. Submitted photo

Not every accident victim can react to first responders in the same way. That’s why Butler County Human Services and Alliance for Nonprofit Resources launched Project READY in 2024. The program is designed to help first responders identify individuals with disabilities who may not be able to respond to their presence in an expected manner.

The project offers a set of items for Butler County households upon request, including a pair of reflective decals for the home and automobile reading, “Occupant May Not Respond As Expected.” A copy of PennDOT’s “Yellow Dot” information booklet also is available. The latter item is meant to be placed in the car’s glove box in case of an accident, and will share essential information about individuals involved in the accident, including emergency contacts and allergies.

Project READY — which stands for Responder Education for Awareness of Disability — was the brainchild of Melissa Vettori of the Alliance for Nonprofit Resources. She says she came up with the idea four years ago during a “touch-a-truck” event for children.

“My work on behalf of the county is on people with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities,” Vettori said. “We quickly realized that there was some work to be done to educate both the families that we work with and the first responders about people with disabilities. We found that a lot of individuals were afraid and we have communication issues. A lot of them are nonverbal. They might have behaviors that might not be a typical interaction for a first responder to encounter in an emergency situation.”

Vettori said Butler County and ANR are overseeing over 1,000 county residents with autism or other developmental difficulties, although not all of them are taking advantage of the program.

“Not all those people have the decals,” Vettori said. “We have put it out there with our communications that we send out to those families. We are trying to get it spread across the county so that everyone that we serve who needs the decals has them for both their home and their car.”

Vettori said Project READY is closely based off the separate “Yellow Dot” safety program from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which is designed to assist first responders in providing prompt medical attention after a vehicle accident.

Aside from the information booklet — which is offered in Project READY to participating households — the Yellow Dot program includes a decal for the vehicle window. However, there is a key difference.

“The PennDOT Yellow Dot program is phenomenal. However, their decals are not reflective,” Vettori said. “What we were hearing from some of the first responders was, they don't notice the decal when they're approaching an accident. So, Mandy (Cousins, community outreach coordinator with Cranberry Township EMS) designed the decals that we're using.”

Project READY materials are available at no charge through Butler County Human Services by calling 724-284-5114 or emailing bcmhmr@co.butler.pa.us.

A similar program called the “Awareness Window Decal” also exists in neighboring Beaver County, administered by Beaver County Behavioral Health. Like Butler County’s Project READY, Beaver’s program consists of decals for the home and/or vehicle to alert first responders that an individual may not respond in the usual manner.

“We would love for other areas and surrounding counties to adopt this,” Vettori said.