Q&A with Lou Giuffre of LifePROTEKT alert system

Please tell our readers about your product.

LifePROTEKT is not about one product but about a bunch of safety products that represent the category of Personal Location Based GPS and Wandering Prevention Devices. Our products also fit into the fall detection PERS (Personal Emergency Response System) space.

The solutions we provide come from manufacturers like Securatrac, Amber Alert GPS, Gps Connect, Lok8u, Pocket finder, Laipac, and Harbor Technologies to name a few. We provide the latest GPS and remote health monitoring technologies to help find and care for those that can easily get lost or want to live independent lives.

When did you first think of the product and what lead to its development.

 Four years ago, LifePROTEKT was created to show our appreciation to those families, individuals and organizations who are patrons of wandering prevention and GPS  location technology.

The LifePROTEKT website was conceived to serve as an informational site presenting topics of interest to those in the autism, Alzheimer’s and special needs communities. Our primary concern is to try to remedy the one symptom that these communities have in common– wandering! Our management team has a long history of involvement with the autism, Alzheimer’s and special needs communities.
We have worked with various autism organizations promoting awareness for over a decade. We are dedicated to educating others, as 1 out of every 91 children born today is born on the autism spectrum. We believe it is paramount to draw attention to this epidemic, which is growing in mass proportion.

It is LifePROTEKT’s intention to contribute financially to education and research efforts as we to present information and solutions that can give special needs families a better sense of security and can be used as another tool to help keep their loved ones safe.

How can your product improve autistic travel?

With many wandering-related instances in the autism community, our products can be used as a safeguard to an accidental or unlawful situation from occurring. For example, the technology we provide can allow a parent or caregiver to set up a predefined perimeter or geofence around the vacation resort, theme park, or relative’s house or neighborhood.

If the individual wearing one of our devices breaks the boundary or geofence, the caregiver or parent will receive an immediate SMS alert or email to their smart or cell phone. If the caregiver or parent has a smartphone a Google map can be pulled up showing the exact location of the individual wearing the device.

Knowing that these devices create a safety net or peace of mind for the caregivers should improve travel for anyone concerned about wandering loved ones as it related to anyone one that may have the propensity to wander. There are GPS products that we have that will work in over 120 different countries around the world and work using the AT&T Network, so additional service related charges are not incurred. A list of countries can be provided if necessary.

Have you approached any hotel chains or cruise ship companies that wanted to use your product?

Although currently we are not working with any direct hotel chains or cruise ship companies we have been approached by many. Right now our vertical focus is on the individual needs, home health care, and law enforcement communities with some emphasis on recreational and theme park resorts.

We have been working with some of the world’s largest theme parks to define further how are solutions will help prevent children from getting lost. We believe that by 2011 we will have a contract with one of the largest theme parks in the world as we have been engaged for well over one year.

 Does your company have any new ideas that would help autistic travel brewing in the pipeline?

Autistic travel is becoming more adaptable as large organizations see the increase of population in this community. Over the past few years, we have seen specialized theme parks and hotel chains adapting to the needs of the sensory issues of our special needs loved ones. LifePROTEKT wants the caregivers and parents of these special loved ones to know that the technologies we represent our cutting edge and represent the latest and greatest solutions to protect the individuals that have the propensity to wander.
In one of our products, there is a feature that identifies the location of the residence of known sex offenders and will send out an alert to the caregiver or parent that will notify them if the child comes within a particular predetermined footage of the registered sex offender.

Many of our devices are also two-way voice cell phones and have S.O.S panic buttons that allow the parent or caregiver to have instant contact via voice to communicate to the individual.

This is a great feature for a child who is unable to carry a cell phone but needs that ability to stay in touch in case of an emergency. Other additional services LifePROTEKT now provides tie directly into a 24/7 emergency call center operation. In case the caregiver or parent does not have access to the alerts sent by the wearer, the notification will go to an authorized call center monitoring station that ties right into the 911 call center. The benefit of this solution is not only that someone at all times knows there is a problem with the person in need, and they will also know the location of that individual.