Mini Lifesaver

Just a squeeze summons aid

Kay Cataldo, a Los Angeles housewife, was so concerned about her father that she stopped by his house several times a week and refused to go away on weekends. The elderly man, who lived alone, was frail and subject to falls; on several occasions, he had collapsed and had been unable to get to his telephone for help.

Husband Tom, an electronics engineer, decided that there must be a better way. After a few months of basement tinkering, he had the solution: a compact electronic device that anyone in distress could use to summon aid with no more than a press of the fingers.

The heart of Cataldo's Microlert is a tiny radio transmitter, about the size of a cigarette lighter, that is worn around the neck. When this battery-powered pendant is squeezed in an emergency, it sends out a signal that from as far away as 300 feet (92 meters) triggers into action a larger unit containing a tape cassette and player. Plugged into a telephone jack, the device automatically dials a series of preprogrammed numbers--an ambulance service, say, then a doctor's office--and sounds the appropriate taped message for each. Samples: "There is a medical emergency at the home of John Smith. Please send an ambulance immediately." "Dr. Jones, there is an emergency at the home of your patient, John Smith, and an ambulance has been summoned."

The device worked so well that Cataldo formed his own company in Burbank, Calif., Microlert Systems International, and has sold or leased more than a thousand of the electronic lifesavers. Says Marie Franckum, a 70-year-old widow from Desert Hot Springs, Calif.: "About three weeks after having it installed I had a severe heart attack. I used it to call my doctor and an ambulance. It saved my life."

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