GTX Corp (OTCBB: GTXO), a leader in customizable, patented two-way GPS Tracking Personal Location Services (PLS) solutions with Aetrex Worldwide, Inc., a leading maker of orthotic and therapeutic shoes debuts the patented GPS tracking Smart Shoe Ambulator ® collection at the World Shoe Association Show. The Aetrex Ambulator® collection brings a durable, reliable solution for monitoring the location of the 5.3 million seniors in the US afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Aetrex plans to launch the shoes to coincide with the National Alzheimer Association memory walks this fall.
The Aetrex GPS-enabled shoes provide caregivers a safe, unobtrusive means to easily find those afflicted with Alzheimer’s that might wander or elope and become lost. GTX Corp’s eighteen patents and patents pending for the GPS tracking technology cover a GPS transceiver module that is placed within the shoe, a module that transmits the wearer’s location coordinates to a central monitoring station, proprietary software, cellular connectivity, the GTX Corp middleware platform and secure viewing portal. Aetrex will initially offer the shoe through their e-commerce websites www.foot.com and the www.gpsshoe.com site along with a select group of assisted living facilities.
June 30
Alzheimer’s Caregiver AlertGTX Corp, developer of the patented GPS shoe, will begin shipping devices to its licensee; Aetrex Worldwide for retail sales through its www.foot.com and GTX Corp’s www.gpsshoe.com sites. Availability is currently scheduled to coincide with the National Alzheimer Association Memory Walks this fall. Those wishing to purchase a pair of “Ambulators” should post their interest on the foot.com site for follow up email messages.
The GPS Shoe transmits the wearer’s location to a monitoring station. From there the wearer’s location is Google mapped and viewable on a computer, smartphone or web-enabled handheld through a secure subscriber portal.
Elopement and wandering often have tragic outcomes. If not found quickly, the afflicted will succumb to exposure, foul play or accidents. Today, nearly six million Americans are afflicted with the incurable disease placing the burden of care on nearly ten million family and professional caregivers. While there is yet no cure for the disease, there is now a path to some peace of mind.
From the moment the call came Berkeley Township Detective Joe Santoro had a bad feeling. At least once a week his police department helps locate a “wanderer,” the clinical name for confused elderly residents who become lost. In Ocean County, where numerous retirement communities dot the landscape, it’s a familiar 911 call that usually has a happy ending.
But for 72-year-old Julia Madsen it was different story. Though she’d been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease 18 months earlier, but she still took her walks on the beach. She gave her husband ED a quick kiss on the cheek and headed out about 7 p.m. Within hours her husband called police, but a wide search could not locate Julia. A year later, they have a list of the places Julia Madsen isn’t, but they are no closer to knowing where she is despite a $50,000 reward. Police never found a single person who saw her on the beach.
Ocean County has the highest percentage of elderly residents — 25 percent — of any New Jersey county. Just last week, Berkeley Township police found the same man twice in a single day. The police were also recently summoned by a woman who insisted her husband had disappeared — only to discover 11 hours later, that she’d forgotten she’d left him at Walmart.
What we do know is that “sundowning” describes the tendency of Alzheimer’s victim symptoms to “amp-up” around sundown. It’s a confusional state comparable to amnesia. They may forget who they are, or who you are. It’s a scary sensation to wonder; Who am I? Where am I? Or why am I? They look for the answers that will make them feel whole, but that will never happen as the disease has no cure.
By September of this year, caregivers will have the means to track people in their charge with a discretely embedded GPS tracking device. Within the sole of the Aetrex Ambulator shoe, a GPS device will identify the location of the wearer to the subscriber of the online tracking portal instantly mapping their location, bearing, speed and path. The patented technology was developed by GTX Corp (GTXO) and may be purchased at www.foot.com. Rather than imprison the victims, the solution affords all, a better quality of life.
You can use a smartphone app to find a nearby Starbucks, but if you are looking for a wandering Alzheimer’s victim, look to The GTX Corp GPS Shoe.
It’s an appealing notion that our daily pick-me-up may also confer a range of health benefits. And for coffee drinkers there’s a lot of research percolating. Several studies suggest that a daily caffeine habit may help protect against Alzheimer’s disease. But there’s a catch. The cup or two a day that most Americans drink doesn’t seem to be enough. Researchers say 500 mg of caffeine, or about five cups of regular coffee, is the dose that seems to protect the brain.
Five Cups A Day
This may sound like an excessive amount of caffeine. After five cups, lots of us would end up with the jitters and be making extra trips to the bathroom. But some coffee lovers are hard core:
“I drink five to six cups a day religiously,” says Gary Arendash, a researcher at the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, part of Florida State University. Arendash says he’s convinced that caffeine is protecting his brain.
Arendash and his colleagues at the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center have been studying the effects of caffeine on the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s disease. They’ve found that adding caffeinated water to rodents’ diet results in big improvements. The mice perform better on short-term memory and thinking tests. But only if they get enough caffeine.
“The human equivalent of two to three cups of coffee does not have benefits in our Alzheimer’s mice,” says Arendash.
Arendash’s team also documented that these super-caffeinated mice end up with about a 50-percent reduction in abnormal amyloid proteins, which are thought to play an important role in the development of Alzheimer’s.
The typical American drinks about a cup and a half of coffee a day. “So you can see that many of us are below that threshold level that we believe confers protective benefits,” says Arendash.
Look for the GTXO GPS Shoe at www.Foot.com come this September and also at the Alzhiemer’s Association site; Comfort Zone. While there is no cure for the disease, there is an immediate solution for wandering and elopement tracking without imprisoning the diseases’ victims or their caregivers.
Aetrex Worldwide Inc. has teamed with GTX Corp. to create the Aetrex Ambulator GPS Shoe, a therapeutic sneaker designed for people with Alzheimer’s disease. The shoe comes with a tiny GPS tracker that alerts a caregiver when the wearer has strayed more than a set distance. It then sends the caregiver a Google map link that plots the wearer’s location. The shoe will be available for $200 at Foot.com, GPSShoe.com and at select assisted living facilities, starting in September. The tracking service will cost $40 to $50 per month.