NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio, Jan. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, an Ohio company is making it possible to keep local children safer. Announced Friday at a meeting of the superintendents of the East Central Ohio Education Service Center (ECOESC), Lauren Innovations will provide NaviGate Prepared, its emergency preparedness product, to 21 school districts across four Ohio counties.

"Shootings are a real fear, and we must do everything we can to make our schools safer," said President of Lauren Innovations Bennett Fierman, Ph.D. "We have a technology that can significantly mitigate risk to school children. To continue our commitment to our local community, we are compelled to provide this simple and affordable solution to area schools."

During emergency situations, the key to optimizing response time is having real-time access to up-to-date information, such as maps and floor plans. NaviGate Prepared:

• Stores critical information in a cloud environment. NaviGate Prepared makes critical information immediately accessible to anyone with access permission – including police and firefighters who may be responding to an incident at the school.
• Provides first responders with accurate information before arriving at an emergency site.  First responders can view a school's emergency procedures, floor plans, building entry and exit points, even live video feeds where there are cameras, from the 911 dispatch center to emergency vehicles en route to the site of an emergency.
• Creates greater eyes-on visibility. First responders can access critical information from any Internet-enabled device, such as police car computers or hand-held devices like iPads, supporting quick and informed action.

NaviGate™ by Lauren Innovations is a proven solution for commercial settings and is SAFETY Act designated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as an anti-terrorism-level technology.

"NaviGate is already protecting more than 1,100 locations across America and abroad. After the tragic events in Newtown, Conn., we wanted to create a version for school environments," Fierman said.

"Safety and security are our highest priority," said Curtis Clough, superintendent of Strasburg-Franklin Local Schools, an early adopter of NaviGate Prepared. "We look forward to welcoming first responders into our schools to learn our emergency procedures."

Installation in Belmont, Carroll, Harrison and Tuscarawas county school districts will begin immediately.

For a list of participating schools, call: 866.861.7400. To learn more, visit:  www.NaviGatePrepared.com.                                

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SOURCE Lauren Innovations