politicians and lobbyists should be forced to wear them 7/24/365 On Feb 14, 11:01 am, Travis <[email protected]> wrote: > ** ** > > http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/02/v-print/2136914/shoe-lets-families... > **** > > ** ** > > Posted on Thu, Feb. 02, 2012**** > > *Shoe lets families keep track of elderly relatives* > > By JOAN VERDON > The (Hackensack N.J.) Record**** > > [image: Description: > Description:http://media.thestate.com/static/images/mi/story_detail/cycle_gallery...]<http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/02/v-print/2136914/shoe-lets-families...>[image: > Description: > Description:http://media.thestate.com/static/images/mi/story_detail/cycle_gallery...]<http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/02/v-print/2136914/shoe-lets-families...>[image: > Description: > Description:http://media.thestate.com/static/images/mi/story_detail/cycle_gallery...]<http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/02/v-print/2136914/shoe-lets-families...>[image: > Description: > Description:http://media.thestate.com/static/images/mi/story_detail/cycle_gallery...]<http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/02/v-print/2136914/shoe-lets-families...> > **** > > [image: Description: Description: BIZ CPT-SRS-GPS-SHOE > HK]<http://media.thestate.com/smedia/2012/02/01/19/11/1nI27x.St.74.jpg> > **** > > Evan Schwartz, President of Aetrex, a Teaneck-based shoe manufacturer, > shows off a shoe fitted with a GPS device that can monitor a wearer. **** > > - Carmine Galasso /MCT**** > > A Teaneck, N.J., shoe maker has joined with a California technology company > to create a shoe that uses GPS technology that records where a wearer walks > – and can send alerts to caregivers if someone suffering from Alzheimer’s > disease or dementia wanders away and gets lost.**** > > A family in Virginia has been using the shoes for the past month, as part > of a trial set up by an elder-care expert, to keep track of an 83-year-old > husband and father who scared his wife recently when he wandered away while > she was grocery shopping. The man’s son now gets alerts on his cell phone > showing his father’s location. “So if I lose him, I can call my son and he > tells me where he is,” the man’s wife said.**** > > Aetrex Worldwide Inc. began selling the shoes on its website last month. > Aetrex President Evan Schwartz said the company has sold “a few hundred > pairs” thus far and that the response from customers has been positive. He > said the company also is in discussions with the Department of Veterans > Affairs and assisted-living companies about the shoes.**** > > Aetrex spent close to two years developing the GPS footwear with GTX Corp. > of Los Angeles. GTX had invented a miniature GPS tracking device and was > looking for ways to use that technology. Andrew Carle, an administrator at > George Mason University in Virginia who specializes in studying the > technology needs of the elderly, approached GTX about creating a tracking > shoe for Alzheimer’s patients and helped bring GTX and Aetrex together. > Carle also recruited the Virginia man’s family to test the shoes.**** > > “GTX was thinking of using the technology for children,” Carle said. “I > contacted them and pointed out the need for something like this for > Alzheimer’s,” he said. “We know that 60 percent of people with Alzheimer’s > wander and get lost. We know they have extremely high rates of injury and > even death if they’re not found within 24 hours,” said Carle, who has > become a paid consultant for GTX.**** > > And, Carle said, caregivers also know that other kinds of tracking > accessories, such as watches or bracelets, don’t work because the > Alzheimer’s patient will remove them. Most Alzheimer’s patients aren’t > going to wander off without their shoes, he said.**** > > GTX patented the GPS shoe technology some years ago, but hadn’t found a > company that could make the shoes until it began talking to Aetrex. Aetrex, > founded in 1946 as an orthotics inserts manufacturer, now also sells shoes, > sneakers and orthotics for people with special footwear needs such as > diabetics, as well as comfort shoes for the elderly. **** > > Aetrex installed the GPS tracking mechanism in a sneaker-style shoe it > makes called the Ambulator, which is popular with elderly patients. The GPS > shoe comes in men’s and women’s models, and in two colors, white and black, > and sells for $299.99. Customers who purchase the shoe also need to pay a > monthly fee for the GPS monitoring service. There are two levels of service > offered – location alerts every 30 minutes for $34.99, or every 10 minutes > for $39.99. Customers also can go online and create, in effect, a virtual > fence – a geographic zone around a person’s residence – and get special > alerts anytime the shoe wearer leaves that zone.**** > > The battery that powers the shoes needs to be charged periodically, and a > charger plugs into the back of the shoe.**** > > Carle said “procedural memory” – habits such as putting on your shoes when > you wake up – is the last to fade for Alzheimer’s patients, and that is why > a GPS device in a shoe is effective.**** > > He said wandering is a problem, even when a patient is with a spouse or > family member all the time, because “it doesn’t take 15 seconds for them to > be gone. You can’t have this person follow you everyplace you go. By > definition, there’s going to be moments when they’re alone. And they > wander,” he said.**** > > Aetrex only makes the shoes in adult sizes, but said there is much interest > in similar shoes for children. Right now, Schwartz said, the GPS devices > aren’t small enough to fit into a children’s shoe. “Between the antennas, > the battery, the chip … it ends up being too bulky to get in there,” he > said.**** > > *© 2012 TheState.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. > **http://www.thestate.com*<http://www.thestate.com/>** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > image003.png > 1KViewDownload > > image004.png > < 1KViewDownload > > image001.png > < 1KViewDownload > > image002.png > < 1KViewDownload > > image005.jpg > 30KViewDownload
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