'The Badge of Life' Campaign Marks a New Initiative Sets Out to Protect the Lives of the Public Safety Community

PR Newswire
July 8, 2004

TURLOCK, Calif., July 8 PRNewswire/ -- MedicAlert Foundation the nation's leading emergency medical information service today announced a significant step in providing the public safety community with added protection. In a signed agreement, the program named, "Badge of Life," will provide specially designed dog tags to the public safety community, a program supported by the American Society for Law Enforcement Training (ASLET).

Public safety professionals are amongst the frequent users of the MedicAlert® 24-Hour Emergency Response Service. MedicAlert® responds to a large number of emergency calls each year from Law Enforcement and Fire & Rescue teams providing them with vital information to assist MedicAlert® Members in the community. As a result of our decades of dedicated service and commitment to our community across the nation, ASLET saw a natural fit between MedicAlert® and a customized electronic health record.

Designed especially for the public safety community, the "Badge of Life" program will be available to all public safety professionals who enroll in the program. Frank Hackett, Executive Director for ASLET and the person who encouraged MedicAlert to create a universal identification tag stated, "the concept was to create an identifiable tag that every member of the public safety community could wear. The tag could be located easily when those on the front line become incapacitated and need immediate assistance. The 'Badge of Life' will save lives!"

Ramesh Srinivasan, VP of Marketing stated, "the military has been using dog tags for years and now MedicAlert® is honored to offer the 'Badge of Life' identification program to public safety professionals who are on the front lines serving and protecting us each day."

MedicAlert® will become the acknowledged central contact point for the physicians and emergency response personnel attempting to identify or assist the "Badge of Life" Members. MedicAlert® will store identification and emergency medical information for the public safety community and answer all calls placed to the MedicAlert® 24-hour Emergency Response Center .

The "Badge of Life" program will be promoted by both organizations to ensure immediate protection. Srinivasan stressed, "this is a wonderful opportunity for MedicAlert Foundation to serve the very people we rely on to deliver our service to Members."

About the MedicAlert Foundation

MedicAlert Foundation is one of the world's largest nonprofit membership organizations with one mission -- to protect and save lives. For 48 years MedicAlert (R) has provided emergency medical information to authorized medical professionals on behalf of our members. The Foundation protects the privacy and confidentiality of our members by never releasing information to unauthorized personnel or organizations. Over four million members rely on the MedicAlert® Service to protect them, regardless of where they may live or travel. The need for trust and peace of mind knows no borders.

About American Society for Law Enforcement Training (ASLET)

The American Society for Law Enforcement Training (ASLET) has been described as the "Association for those who teach and those who want to learn and improve law enforcement training." We are dedicated to enhancing and promoting excellence in law enforcement training while increasing the effectiveness of our members to better serve their communities and society. ASLET was founded in 1987 as the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers. Today, ASLET is the largest law enforcement training association of its kind in the world. It has nearly 5,500 active members including members from Canada , Australia , England , Israel , Portugal , Germany , Haiti , France , Venezuela , Norway , Bangladesh , Guam , New Guinea , Saudi Arabia , and Africa .