Safety is just a call away

A former DJ has invented a GPS tracking device that is giving huge comfort to carers of vulnerable people, says Claire Droney.

A FORMER 2FM DJ has invented the world’s smallest mobile phone and a GPS tracking device. Half the size of a matchbox, the phone has two speed-dial buttons and a panic button.

“I’m delighted with it. It’s the ideal communication protection for persons with an intellectual disability and for vulnerable people out and about. It can be worn around the neck like a pendant,” says Swish Arthouse studio managing director, Adrian McGibbon.

McGibbon, 47, established the company in 2009, after a 15-year career in telecommunications. The business provides tailored technology solutions for vulnerable people who have been affected by cutbacks, particularly in the area of home help services for the elderly and family’s with disabilities, and its GPS Tracker has also been a huge hit..

“I was made redundant in 2009 and I wanted to start my own business. The tracker was always something in my mind. It was very hard at the beginning, with lots of trial-and-error. I was lucky I came from a business background and could fill in the blanks myself,” says McGibbon, whose parents ran a restaurant for 35 years.

“My dad very much had a get-up-and-go attitude. He was an entrepreneur, and worked as a masterchef for 35 years in the Shangri-La restaurant in Sligo. It was known as the Bewleys of the west,” he says.

Business has been good, with the most successful product being the Swish GPS tracker. The tracker is attached to the person and can be accessed via mobile phone. It sends a text with the co-ordinates of the tracker’s location, and a voice call on which the mobile phone user can hear what’s going on around the person.

“Most of my customer base are people with disabilities, people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and people living alone. The decision to buy the tracker would usually be a decision made on behalf of the individual by their family,” he says.

“There are lots of trackers on the market but a lot of companies have recurring revenue on it. Once you buy the Swish GPS tracker, there are no more fees. We give people control of the unit themselves.”

Killian Raymond, 7, loves watching Peppa Pig and playing with his brothers. He also loves climbing trees and fences, and running. Killian has autistic spectrum disorder, hypo-sensitivity, and doesn’t speak much.

“Killian is a little adventure-head, and has a severe case of wanderlust. He just picks a direction and off he goes,” says Killian’s father, Niall.

A few years ago, a neighbour knocked on the Raymonds’ front door to tell them Killian was running up the road. He had climbed out of an upstairs window.

“We spend a lot of time outdoors on hikes and walks and when we’re outdoors we follow the good Scout guide of ‘be prepared’. We usually take Killian to a wooded area where we know the layout. His big brother, Cian, will shadow him and will sometimes go ahead and ask him to wait,” Niall says.

But for a trip to Lourdes last year, Niall purchased the Swish GPS tracker.

“We’d been looking at a huge amount of trackers and GPS units, but there’s a huge monitoring charge with other trackers. The Swish tracker costs a few more euro, initially, but that’s it after buying it.

“You monitor it and track it yourselves. There are enough things to be worrying about as parents of children with ASD and I just don’t agree with hidden charges,” he says.

“The great thing about it is if Killian disappears, you just hit a button and within 30 seconds you can locate him and hear what’s going on around him, so if you’re in a theme park, you can hear what part of the park he is in too.”

Killian’s mother, Tanya, purchased an Android phone for the Lourdes trip, so that she could access Google Maps instantly. She also cable-tied the Swish GPS tracker to the back of Killian’s belt during their trip to Lourdes, to prevent him from losing it.

“The tracker sends the latitude and longitude of its location in a text to your mobile phone. Then, you go into Google maps and put in the latitude and longitude, and boom, there’s the location of the tracker. Another feature that I think is cool is the motion tracker. It gives you his speed. So if it’s a low speed, then you know he’s walking or running. If it’s a fast speed, then you know that somehow he’s managed to board a vehicle, then he must have got on a public bus or a tube,” Niall says.

“I think we’ve done more testing of it than using it. When I need it to work, I want to make sure it works. I play games with it to test it and I wear it out and about, and my wife tells me where I’ve been. Thankfully, we’ve never had to actually activate it with Killian,” says Niall.

“The tracker is very accurate outdoors. Indoors, it’ll give you an address but it won’t give you what part of the building the child is in. There’s a SIM card in the tracker and you pay for phone credit and that’s it. Being abroad means there are roaming charges, but you have to accept that.

“My number one priority is that they’re safe, and if we’re outside, all it takes is one split second, you blink and he’s gone. Even if it never got used in an emergency situation, we have that peace of mind and there is no price for that”.

The Swish GPS tracker costs €595 and the Swish mini phone costs €285 and are available online at www.theswish.ie