Safety traditionally has been a strong selling point for the wireless industry, but a Pennsylvania company has begun deploying a product that puts a new twist on the safety angle.
LifeSafety Solutions Inc.’s service, 911Plus, provides emergency dispatchers with specific information on emergency callers. Subscribers to 911Plus provide information including names of all household members, their age and sex, medical histories and information about the caller’s home.
The application that Bob Pons, executive vice president and chief operating officer of LifeSafety, said will become a marketing tool for wireless companies, is a third-party notification feature. Subscribers to the service can designate a pager or wireless phone number where a LifeSafety operator would call if a member of the subscriber’s household dialed 911.
“It’s another reason for someone who doesn’t have a pager to go out and subscribe, for example, so they can know when a member of their household has dialed 911 for emergency assistance,” said Pons.
“Our consumer research indicates that the third-party notification portion of our service is one of its strongest features,” added Jay Snider, president and chief executive officer of the company. “Just imagine the importance of knowing that your elderly mother who lives alone, or the babysitter watching your children, has just called 911 for assistance.”
The 911Plus system is integrated directly with the 911 center’s existing system, said Pons. A system recently installed in Montgomery County, Pa., was provided free of charge, and the company said it will rebate a portion of the revenues it receives to the county based on the number of households that subscribe.
LifeSafety also donated 50 subscriptions to the service through United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, which split the subscriptions equally between the Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County and the Women’s Center of Montgomery County.
Besides Pennsylvania, the company has deployed the system in certain Texas markets. Tons said LifeSafety is in negotiations with more than 400 community 911 centers across the country. The service is priced at less than $10 per month for any size household and is billed through a subscriber’s local telephone service.
