COVINGTON, Ky. — This weekend, a 9-year-old girl's body was found in a pond near her home after her family reported her missing the night before. She is one of several autistic children in the Tri-State who have gone missing, only for their bodies to be recovered from a body of water.
One local tech company is hoping to help create a new device to prevent these deaths from happening.
Covington-based Safewave Technology's main goal is to help their community, founder Trevon Bruch said.
“I like to focus on sectors that are overlooked and underserved,” said Bruch.
WATCH: Why Safewave is working on a device to help families with autistic kids, how it works
They currently sell a wearable device that helps those who are deaf and hard of hearing.
“We essentially turn sound into a physical vibration by connecting a band to our mobile app,” said Bruch.
But after seeing tragedy after tragedy as autistic children were reported missing or dead in the Tri-State, Bruch and his team decided to start working to create a new device to prevent that from happening again.
“So the idea is that we’d be able to set a parameter around a building, a house, an amusement park, anything, right? And the idea is that if the person wearing this product ever runs out of that geo-fence area, caregiver, parent, whoever it is, would be alerted in real time,” said Bruch.
The device would also have tracking technology, allowing parents or caregivers to see the location of whoever is wearing the device at all times. But it doesn’t stop there.
“Let’s say there’s a pool in the backyard,” said Bruch. “You might want them in the backyard, but you don’t want them in the pool, right? So you can go in, secure the yard, but also block out the pool so if they ever do enter that, it actually alerts the caregiver or parent as well.”
Bruch said he and his team will always focus on what's important — people.
“Creating those eyes, without physical eyes, is kinda the space we’re trying to get in,” he said. “How can we protect these children a little bit more, right?”
Safewave's device can be used for all children, as well as for people who have Alzheimer's or dementia. The device still needs to be batch tested and pass compliance tests before hitting the market. The hope is to have the device on the market in 2027.
