GTC Ships GPS-enabled Shoes for Monitoring Alzheimer’s Patients to Aetrex

A GPS-based Personal Location Services provider, GTC has announced that that the GPS Shoe device has received the FCC certification. The first 3000 units of the FCC certified GPS Shoe has been shipped to Aetrex Worldwide.

In recognition of the World Alzheimer’s Day on 21st September, GTC released the GPS tracking technology to be integrated into wellness and comfort shoes designed for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s or related dementia.

The Chief Executive Officer of GTX and the co-inventor of the multi-patient GPS Shoe, Patrick Bertagna explained that the GPS Shoe eases the emotional and physical burden upon the patient, the family and the caregivers by providing comfort and convenience of tracking the whereabouts of the patient. While the cost incurred in treatment of dementia worldwide has reached $604 billion and continues to rise, the GPS-enabled shoes cost less than $300.

An advisor to GTX, Andrew Carle stated that the GPS Shoe is a life saving technology. Carle, who coined the term Nana Technologies for describing assistive technology designed for seniors, added that the shoes could potentially save millions of dollars that the government utilizes for performing search and rescue operations of patients of dementia in addition to the healthcare costs for the injured.

The World Alzheimer Report 2010 indicates that more than 5 million US citizens suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and the number is likely to quadruple to 20 million in the United States. The report also states that due to paranoia, a patient is most likely to remove unfamiliar objects placed upon them. Majority of the patients wander and lose their way and it is likely that if a lost patient isn’t found within a day, they may lose their life due to injury or dehydration.

Since habitual memory of an event such as getting dressed is a memory that a patient is mostly able to retain, the placement of the comfortable miniaturized GPS enabled shoe is the most efficient monitoring solution that can be provided to the family and caregivers of the patient. The Aetrex GPS Shoes is also available online.