Teen seeks funds to develop medical wristband

GAME CHANGER: A new hospital wristband being developed by Ben Bell will make finding patients easy. Photo: David Haxton

A Rangitikei teenager is looking for funding to get his medical innovation off the ground.

Fifteen-year-old Ben Bell came up with his Wellband idea when he was a pupil at Huntley School in 2011.

The Wellband would replace the traditional hospital wristband with a band which is GPS traceable and can store a patient's files. It would connect to a smartphone app and a computer database which could be accessed by medical staff and families.

Ben is looking to raise $12,000 to fund a prototype which he would use to attract investors. So far his Gofundme page has raised nearly $2000.

A former Rangitikei College student, Ben's family recently moved to Otaki. He has spent four years developing the idea - a lot of that time researching the technology required.

"I've been waiting for somebody else to solve the problem but nobody feels as passionate about it as I do," he said.

"I've had a few competitions with it, and it's had really really positive feedback - people really really like the idea."

Of the funding needed, $4500 would go to the development of the molds for the bands and clip, $3000 for technology developer kits, $2000 on commissioning artwork for the bands, while the rest would be used to develop the app.

Ben got the idea when his dad was in hospital in 2010. He had been moved into a different ward and the family had trouble tracking him down in hospital.

To help fund the Wellbands prototype visit http://www.gofundme.com/wellbands