GONZALES - The Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office created a new program called "Take Me Home" to help first responders communicate with people who may have special needs.

The program allows parish residents to register their loved ones in a database, kept by the sheriff's office, which will notify law enforcement and emergency personnel about the individual when they respond.

"Our 911 communicators will get a red flag that says, 'This person or this home we're responding to may have an individual there who may have special needs,'" Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Donovan Jackson said.

Jackson said the program is intended for people with developmental disabilities like Autism or cognitive impairment like dementia. He says having this information will help those at the scene respond accordingly.

"Let's say a deputy is called out to a scene where there's a person being a little bit irate, who is having a bad day, a bad moment. Generally, when you go to that scene, you're going to go with caution and care. And you're going to try your best to treat that person with care, but sometimes you've got to do a tough job and make tough decisions. But, if you're given the information that, 'Hey look, this person that you're responding to,' the name pops up in the system and says, 'Look, this person has a mental disability and is known for having some outbursts sometimes.' Well now, you're going into this with different eyes," Jackson said.

Jackson said the idea for the program was brought to the sheriff's office by Marsha Clanton, an Ascension Parish resident, who is a mother to two sons with Autism. Her sons, Hunter and Kennedy Clanton, are identical twins, both 24 years old.

"They don't function on the level that the normal 24-year-old does, but they're functioning, they have language, they have jobs," Marsha Clanton said.

She described the APSO Take Me Home database as the "next layer of protection."

"I actually said it in a presentation in Ascension and Jefferson parish, 'What if you guys told us not to move and my son, having autism, goes down to tie his shoes?' All of them kind of shook their heads because in their minds, he could be going down for something. But if they know he has autism, they know this is part of what happens," Clanton said.

Clanton added the state legislature passed two bills to protect people with disabilities. In 2023, a law was signed to create special car decals denoting mental, physical or developmental disabilities. In 2024, the Hunter and Kennedy Clanton Act, which makes sure parents are aware of the transfer of rights when their child reaches 18, was signed into law.

The next step, Clanton said, was the Take Me Home program.

"Anybody that can't communicate, anybody that has any type of situation that may cause someone else to think they're not cooperating, we need to help those people," Clanton said.

Those wanting to register their loved one can click here for the form. Forms with a picture can be returned to the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office or sent via email to TakeMeHome@ascensionsheriff.com.