GPS-fitted shoes help track Alzheimer patients

Juniper Foo | Jun 11, 2009

For peace of mind. GTX Corp is applying its GPS know-how into Aetrex Worldwide's shoes to keep track of Alzheimer patients. (Credit: GTX)

GPS-equipped footwear isn't new. But the idea of using it to track Alzheimer patients, which shoemaker Aetrex Worldwide and GPS experts GTX Corp are making possible, is just great. Even more so if an affordable version of the service can be extended to home users. Remembering how hapless a friend felt when her granddad who was afflicted with the dementia disappeared one day, this would have saved her all that mental anguish. The entire family had been marshalled to help in the search, and it was a day later when they were imagining the worse that a stranger called to say he had found her grandfather wandering around aimlessly. Now that her father faces the same fate, this would certainly lessen her burden as a caregiver.

The GPS transmitters have an accuracy range of 30ft and "geo fences" can be set so that as soon as the patient leaves that zone, a Google Map alert is sent to a cell phone, home or office computer to locate the patient. I know I'd want to be found, and spared the indignity of strangers' stares.

Via Physorg

Filed under: Lifestyle
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