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'Wheresie' founders aim to stop children from being left behind in vehicles

Kate Archer Kent

Two Shreveport entrepreneurs are in the final week of a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in an effort to take a child safety device to market. On average, three dozen children die in hot cars each year, according to child safety organization KidsandCars.com. Intuitive Technologies CEO Daniel Simpson says this new tech device called the “Wheresie” is a plastic disc containing a Bluetooth enabled chip that communicates with a smartphone.

“You clip the device to the child. The alarm triggers if a parent gets a distance of greater than 30 feet. We think it’s pretty powerful and there’s a lot of other things you can build off of that,” Simpson said.

The Wheresie has been in the works for a year, inspired by a busy Shreveport ophthalmologist and the father of a toddler. Simpson says the company is trying to raise $100,000 to ramp up manufacturing. The company hired a child safety product compliance expert to navigate the regulatory hoops.

“We’re trying to propose a product and a solution that’s going help save a life,” Simpson said. “We want to make sure we meet all the compliance standards. We want to make sure the signals that are being emitted from our device are safe.”

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The Wheresie attaches to a child using a pacifier clip and does not pose a swallowing hazard.

Simpson says he hopes the Wheresie can be on the market by spring. He thinks it’s a very versatile and easy-to-use product in a fast moving tech marketplace. To date, the campaign has raised $10,462. More information is at wheresie.com.

Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' broadcast and media experience to Red River Radio. He began his career as a radio news reporter and transitioned to television journalism and newsmagazine production. Chuck studied mass communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.