Launched earlier this month, the Alzheimer's Association Comfort Zone™, powered by Omnilink, is the first comprehensive location management system designed specifically for Alzheimer’s, giving people with the disease more freedom and independence in their community while providing their family some peace of mind. Comfort Zone is a Web-based application that works with various location devices throughout the progression of the disease to proactively communicate the location of the person with Alzheimer’s within two to 30 minutes, based on the family’s selected plan. Comfort Zone also offers families assistance with 24/7 monitoring center services and access to emergency health records from the MedicAlert Foundation.
As Americans continue to live longer, prevalence of Alzheimer’s is expected to skyrocket by 19 percent in Oklahoma from 74,000 by 2050, according to the Alzheimer's Association 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts & Figures report. In addition to its slow, fatal progression, Alzheimer’s poses immediate safety concerns for people living with the disease and enormous challenges and stress for their 10 million family caregivers.

“As the Alzheimer’s epidemic gains momentum, the Alzheimer’s Association is committed to educating families about how to keep people with Alzheimer’s successfully in the community for as long as possible,” said Beth Kallmyer, MSW, director of Family & Information Services at the Alzheimer’s Association. “Comfort Zone is an interactive safety service that allows people with the disease to be more active and caregivers to be more confident whether they are in the same house, down the street, at work or across the country.”

 Comfort Zone combines the latest technology with flexibility, allowing families to change devices and plans as a person’s disease progresses and monitoring needs change. Using GPS and cellular technologies with online mapping, Comfort Zone allows the entire family to proactively determine the location of the person with Alzheimer’s. Families log into a secure, password-protected Web site similar to logging into most email systems and proactively establish safety zones. If the person with Alzheimer’s travels beyond the pre-set zones, they receive alerts via text or email within 15 or 30 minutes, depending on the device and service package purchased. These zones and alerts can be adjusted to meet the family’s needs as the disease progresses. Additionally, families can determine location within two minutes by initiating a “Find Me” or a longer “Follow Me” session, which provides updates every two minutes for one hour.

“Omnilink is pleased to partner with the Alzheimer’s Association and power the Comfort Zone application,” said Wain Kellum, CEO of Omnilink. “This is a great opportunity to use our advanced location-based services platform to give families flexible care options and choices throughout the progression of the disease.”

Bill Bailey, an Alzheimer’s Association Early-Stage Advisor living with the disease, and his wife Kitty Kennedy tested Comfort Zone from their Richmond, Va., home. Bailey, an avid exerciser, found he was able to ride his bike again and even drove 600 miles to camp with his brother-in-law for the first time since diagnosis. “I felt more confident that I would not get lost, because my wife could keep up with me,” said Bailey, Alzheimer’s Association Early-Stage Advisor. Kennedy adds, “As a caregiver, it gives me peace of mind to know that Bill is able to move about freely yet safely even if I’m at work, running errands or taking a break. With Comfort Zone in our back pocket, we bought ourselves more time and independence.”

The price of the Comfort Zone service packages varies, beginning at $42.99 a month with a $45.00 activation fee, similar to most cell phone services. For more information or to purchase Comfort Zone, visit the Alzheimer’s Association at www.alz.org/comfortzone or call 1-877-ALZ-4850 (1-877-259-4850).

 About the Alzheimer’s Association
The Alzheimer's Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer care, support and research. Our mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer’s. For more information, visit www.alz.org.

About Omnilink Systems
Omnilink Systems offers the most accurate and reliable platform for powering location aware mobile devices and applications. Utilizing its market-leading software, FocalPoint™, Omnilink provides complete on demand applications to rapidly provision and manage location intelligence for people and assets. Working with carriers, Fortune 100 companies, and U.S. Government Agencies through a software-as-a-service model (SaaS), Omnilink has built a complete LBS platform to extend and enrich new and existing applications for broader markets. For more information, please visit www.omnilink.com.

About MedicAlert Foundation International
MedicAlert Foundation International pioneered the first medical identification service in 1956 as a way to provide people with a simple but effective method for communicating their medical conditions. Since the organization’s founding, MedicAlert has provided services and products that protect and save the lives of its 4 million members. For more than 50 years, the organization has relayed vital medical information on behalf of its members to emergency responders so they receive faster and safer treatment. MedicAlert emblems, worn as bracelets, pendants, or watches, alert emergency personnel to a member’s EMIR. In addition to its 24-hour emergency response service, MedicAlert also provides family notification in the case of an emergency and so that members can be reunited with their families. For more information visit www.medicalert.org

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The Collinsville Football Players still need your help. We are asking the community to give a whole new meaning to the Cheerleaders saying “BOYS NEED NOISE”. We realize that it’s been a little cool at the games and that gloves are necessary and that makes it more difficult to clap. So we are asking you to bring a “Noise Maker”. Our suggestions are a simple pop can filled with pinto beans or pop bottles with pebbles. The more noise the better! It’s the last regular season game against Oolagah at Home this Friday, so bring the noise support! For those of you in the stands at Vinita… what a difference it made, and what a Great job from the Crimson Cadets playing the whole game & Cheerleaders made shakers to pass out amongst the crowd!!!

Thank you for supporting your Collinsville Cardinals. – Collinsville Football Players & Quarterback Club

Since its founding in 1980, the Alzheimer's Association has been the leader in making the fight against Alzheimer’s a national priority, a call that resonates during November, which is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month.

After designating a National Alzheimer’s Disease Week in 1982, President Reagan helped to launch a national campaign against Alzheimer’s disease in 1983, calling members of the Alzheimer's Association to the White House for the signing of a proclamation declaring National Alzheimer’s Disease Month.

“The emotional, financial and social consequences of Alzheimer’s disease are so devastating that it deserves special attention,” Reagan said. Taking lead of the issue, he went on to advocate research as “the only hope for victims and families.” Reagan courageously announced his Alzheimer’s diagnosis to the public in November 1994 and passed away in 2004.

Alzheimer’s Association founder Jerome Stone led a group of family caregivers, Association volunteers and staff in the effort to bring attention to the cause on Capitol Hill. That advocacy effort continues even stronger today with Association public policy staff and volunteers leading the call for increased government funding for critical Alzheimer research and support programs.

In 1983 fewer than 2 million Americans had the disease; today, the number of individuals with Alzheimer’s has soared to as many as 5.3 million and is expected to grow to 16 million by 2050 unless something is done to slow or stop this devastating disease. It is now the seventh leading cause of death, and every 70 seconds someone develops Alzheimer’s Disease.

“While there is much we don’t yet know about Alzheimer’s disease, tremendous progress is being made, laying the foundation for future breakthroughs in prevention, diagnosis and treatment,” said Tonda Ames, vice president of Marketing and Programs for the Oklahoma and Arkansas Chapter.

To help caregivers deal with the disease, the national Alzheimer’s Association is featuring two new products this month: The Big Brain Puzzle and Comfort Zone.

The Alzheimer’s Association is proud to share The Big Brain Puzzle Book with fans of frame games, trivia and teasers across America. The Big Brain Puzzle Book features 200 Alzheimer’s Association-approved puzzles from renowned brain teaser Terry Stickels:

Frame games: Find an everyday phrase hidden inside words or drawings of rebus puzzles.
Spatial visual: Answer questions while looking at three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional page. In five steps, changing one letter at a time, come up with an entire new word.
Squeezers: Fill in the blanks with letters in the middle of two words, creating two two-syllable words.
Word search: Find words within blocks of letters going horizontally, diagonally or vertically.
Trivia: Answer questions and learn something new.
Trickledown: In five steps, changing one letter at a time, come up with an entire new word.
The book is available on newsstands and in bookstores for $11.99. It can also be purchased at Amazon.

The second item is Comfort Zone. Launched earlier this month, the Alzheimer's Association Comfort Zone™, powered by Omnilink, is the first comprehensive location management system designed specifically for Alzheimer’s, giving people with the disease more freedom and independence in their community while providing their family some peace of mind. Comfort Zone is a Web-based application that works with various location devices throughout the progression of the disease to proactively communicate the location of the person with Alzheimer’s within two to 30 minutes, based on the family’s selected plan. Comfort Zone also offers families assistance with 24/7 monitoring center services and access to emergency health records from the MedicAlert Foundation.

For additional information and resources, contact the Alzheimer’s Association at 1.800.272.3900 or visit www.alz.org.

The Alzheimer’s Association is the largest voluntary health organization in the country with the dual mission of conquering Alzheimer’s disease through research and enhancing care and support for people with the disease, their families, and caregivers. The Association provides a 24-hour Helpline (1-800-272-3900), support groups, education programs, care consultation, information and referral, Safe Return (a national program to help find people with dementia who become lost). For more information about Alzheimer’s disease visit www.alz.org.