Even when no parent is there,
a parent's number is on the child's bag.
Children lose notes. The school bag remembers.
School, classes, school trips, study abroad. When a child is hurt, teachers and paramedics first need the allergies and a parent's number, and the patch on the bag or shoes shows both in one second.
For school pupils and students abroad, their parents, and the schools, school nurses and trip escorts who look after them.
Where a child collapses, no adult there knows the child
- A child spends half the day without a parent. Food allergies, asthma, childhood diabetes and seizures do not wait for home time; they start at school, in class or on the way home.
- The class teacher may know, but the trip escort, the paramedic and the passing adult do not, and a child fighting for breath cannot explain.
- On a school trip abroad or studying overseas, even the language is different. Nobody is there to tell local paramedics about the allergy or the parent's number.
- Asking a child to keep a note or a card rarely works. It gets lost, goes through the wash, or stays in yesterday's pocket.
School trip abroad, day three, lunchtime
- 08:00
Jiwoo, 14, puts on her PE kit and shoulders her school bag. Before departure the school registered the whole year group's patches with WaveMed Desktop, and the school nurse checked every allergy. The patch on Jiwoo's bag holds: peanut allergy, adrenaline pen in the front pocket, her mother's number and the escort teacher's number.
- 12:20
In a market street, Jiwoo tries a snack a friend hands her. Her face swells and her breathing turns hard; she cannot get the words out. Her class teacher is with another group.
- 12:21
The escort teacher from the next group, who installed the reader app at the pre-trip training, holds his phone to the blue cross on her bag for one second: peanut allergy, adrenaline pen in the front pocket, mother's number. He has a student call the local emergency number, takes the pen from the front pocket and uses it on her.
- 12:33
Local paramedics read the same patch with 𝒱WaveMed, and the peanut allergy appears in their own language. The app only reads; it cannot change anything.
- 12:45
The escort teacher calls Jiwoo's mother on the number from the patch. The first thing she hears is not a question about medicines, but the name of the hospital her daughter is on the way to.
Nothing for the child to remember: the bag speaks for them
- Where a child cannot lose it: a 25 × 25 mm RadPatch on the school bag, shoes, name tag or PE kit, attached with an iron, a hair straightener or as a sticker. A silicone body with a sealed chip gives two layers of waterproofing, so it survives the washing machine, and with no battery there is nothing to charge.
- One second, on anyone's phone: a teacher, a passing adult or a paramedic holds a current smartphone with the free WaveMed or 𝒱WaveMed app to the blue cross, and allergies, current medication, diabetes emergency information and a parent's number appear in the reader's language, in any of 27 languages. No internet and no login, so it works on a school trip abroad too.
- Parents decide what goes in: allergies and a parent's number are enough, and anything like a home address can stay out. The information is encrypted inside the patch and only the four-digit PIN can change it; 𝒱WaveMed, for paramedics, emergency responders and fire crews, only reads.
- Schools do it once, for everyone: WaveMed Desktop and a reader register a whole year group in list order, with the school nurse checking allergies. For trips and camps, the escort teacher's number goes on every patch.
- Parents keep the rest in the free WaveMed app: a medication schedule with reminders and Completed marks, a 30-day blood sugar graph in mg/dL and mmol/L for a child with diabetes, vaccination history with certificates attached for enrolment and study-abroad forms, insurance certificates, and an emergency report that switches to any of 27 languages.
School bag, shoes, PE kit: where a child carries it every day
From the morning dose to study-abroad papers: the free WaveMed app
Real WaveMed app screens (demo data).
Where it is read
How to roll it out
- Start with a pilot in one year group: bag patches, WaveMed Desktop with a reader, and thirty minutes of training for the school nurse.
- Prepare the parental consent form and registration guide together. Parents choose what goes in, the school nurse checks allergies, and the school registers the year group in list order (Path B).
- Before trips and camps, escort teachers install the free reader app and practise reading a patch, and their number is added to every patch; then the programme extends to the whole school.
- Individual families and students abroad register themselves with the free WaveMed app, adding the home parents' and the local guardian's numbers, and update the patch with the PIN when medication changes (Path A).
Frequently asked questions
Is it dangerous if anyone can read a child's information?
Parents decide what goes in. Allergies and a parent's number are enough; leave out anything like a home address you do not want shown. Changing or erasing it needs the PIN, and apps outside the WaveMed family cannot open it.
Will it survive the wash, the rain and the playground?
A silicone body and a sealed chip give two layers of waterproofing, so the washing machine, rain and puddles are all fine. With no battery, there is nothing to charge.
Can it be read on a school trip abroad or while studying overseas?
Yes. The patch is read without internet on any current smartphone with the free WaveMed or 𝒱WaveMed app: most Android phones on 8.0 or newer, and recent iPhones. Hold the phone to it and the screen opens by itself; the details appear in the reader's language, in any of 27 languages.
Get the apps
Put a parent's number on your child's bag: start today with the free WaveMed app, and talk to us about a one-year-group pilot for your school.