Anderson Co. Coroner’s Office gives out free ‘Scent of Hope’ kits

ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) — The Anderson County Coroner’s Office is now equipped with “Scent of Hope” boxes.

The kits are used to preserve the scent of people who are more likely to wander such as children with special needs and adults with dementia.

“Those minutes can be the difference between life and death sometimes, so by having tools like this available, then you are able to get these tracking teams on the ground faster and hopefully locate the individual in a shorter period of time,” said Don McCown.

Deputy Coroner Don McCown said the kits come with a set of instructions to follow.

“All it is, is a jar, a four by four pad, a pair of gloves and the evidence seal,” said McCown.

First, put on a pair of gloves so your scent doesn’t interfere with the one being collected.

“Then when you’re ready, you’re going to take that gauze pad and you can wipe the forehead, under the neck, under the armpits wherever you can have an area,” said McCown.

Then place the gauze back in the jar and fill out the information label on the side of the jar.

“You’re going to put your name, the age at that time, everything and pertinent information, and then you’re going to share that with some evidence tape. Then you’re going to store this in just some cool place, not in your refrigerator, but just some cool area where you don’t have to worry about heat,” said McCown.

If a family member were to ever go missing, then search dogs would use the scent kit to find them.

The coroner said more agencies have these boxes at their office, it increases access for people in the community to have this in their home.

“I can’t overemphasize how important this is, because I think this group here impressed me the most because they’re really taking steps to cut off minutes to be able to find somebody,” said McCown. I want to encourage families, if you do have children, especially young children, if you have senior citizens in your home that they need to be kept track of, definitely reach out and grab one of these kits and put it up,” said McCown.

The Anderson County Coroner’s Office said kits are available for free pick-up during office hours Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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