GPS shoe lets families keep track of elderly relatives
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Evan Schwartz, president of Aetrex, a Teaneck, N.J.-based shoe manufacturer, shows off a shoe fitted with a GPS device that can monitor a wearer.
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HACKENSACK, N.J. -- A Teaneck, N.J., shoemaker has joined with a California technology company to create a shoe that uses GPS technology to record where a wearer walks -- and send alerts to caregivers if someone dealing with 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 that company and Aetrex together. Mr. Carle also recruited the Virginia man's family to test the shoes.
"GTX was thinking of using the technology for children," Mr. 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."
First Published February 5, 2012 12:00 am
