GPS shoes for Alzheimer’s patients to hit US

WASHINGTON: The first shoes with built-in GPS devices — to help track down dementia-suffering seniors who wander off and get lost — are set to hit the US market this month, the manufacturer says
GTX Corp said the first batch of 3,000 pairs of shoes has been shipped to the footwear firm Aetrex Worldwide, two years after plans were announced to develop the product.
The shoes will sell at around $300 a pair and buyers will be able to set up a monitoring service to locate “wandering” seniors suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.
Andrew Carle, a professor at George Mason University’s College of Health and Human Services who was an adviser on the project, said the shoes are likely to save lives and avoid embarrassing and costly incidents with the elderly
Carle said studies indicate more than five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, a number expected to quadruple in the coming years. He said 60 per cent of sufferers will wander and become lost and up to half of those lost who are not found within 24 hours may die, from dehydration, exposure or injury
Provided this the makers say the market for such shoes is growing, given the soaring costs of Alzheimer.