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Sol-ID in the News
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The sole of an idea
Over 900,000 people annually end up in emergency rooms without identification. An attorney, a businessman and a medical doctor team up to promote a low tech solution to help the problem
by Paul Teetor
 Redondo Beach attorney Tony Capozzola was driving home from the Torrance courthouse in 1989 when he saw a car hit a boy bicycling along Hawthorne Boulevard. Capozzola quickly stopped, thinking he might be of assistance in contacting the boy's parents. He had a car phone at a time when most people didn't. But the boy was unconscious and not carrying identification.
Fortunately, when the paramedics arrived they helped him regain consciousness and he was able to give his name and home phone number.
But what if the boy had not regained consciousness, Capozzola, father of a daughter and four sons, wondered as he returned to his car.
"I realized that my family's dog and cat both had ID tags, but none of our children did," he said. "I couldn't believe that our society had evolved like this, where we set a higher priority on providing our pets with ID and medical info than we do our kids."
That evening, Capozzola went to his garage workshop and crafted crude ID tags from cardboard and stuck them to his children's shoes with Scotch tape.
"For the moment, I had peace of mind that if one of my kids were ever in situation like what I had just seen, they would at least have a chance at being identified and getting the proper medical treatment quickly," he said. "At that time, I had no intention of doing anything else with the idea."
But he kept tinkering with the concept and a year later he patented a laminated identification tag designed to glue to the inside soles of shoes. In 1991 he registered the name Sol-ID.
At the time he thought he was on the express train to the Inventor's Hall of Fame.
"Everybody -- and I mean everybody -- who has ever taken a close look at this says it's a great idea and should be in every shoe in America," he said. "So I thought it would just sell itself."
"Usually, it's an injured kid who doesn't have any ID or medical info on them," Capozzola said. "But there are also plenty of adults -- joggers, bikers, skiers -- who get injured while not carrying any ID."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2003 that an estimated 900,000 emergency room patients were unable to provide contact information because of their injuries.
A few years ago, Capozzola recalled, a Palos Verdes businessman fell from his bicycle and was knocked unconscious just a few blocks from his home. But he had no identification. By the time his family located him doctors, who were unaware of the fact that the man was diabetic, had amputated his right foot. Had doctors known of his medical condition, the amputation might have been avoided.
"Think about how much goodwill the U.S. government could generate if it handed out Sol-ID stickers to ensure that every child in America had proper ID in case of an emergency," he said. "It would be a win-win for everyone -- except the terrorists."
Another benefit of Sol-ID, he said, is the opportunity it presents for subliminal advertising.
"Imagine every time you put on your Nike running shoes you see this ID tag that says, 'Sponsored by Reebok,' "Capozzola said.
The attorney has had some significant successes over the last decade with Sol-Id. It was endorsed by the anti-drug program DARE and was distributed by Reebok shoes and medical supplies giant Johnson & Johnson.
But he also learned that there are many other medical IDs competing for limited dollars and limited attention, among them, the Envelope of Life program in Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach and the ICE cell phone program.
About a year ago, a friend of Hermosa Beach Realtor Betty Ryan suffered an accident. When paramedics came to her aid she was unable to tell them what medications she was taking.
The incident prompted Ryan to contact former Manhattan Councilwoman Jan Dennis about the "envelope of life" program Dennis had established in her city. Dennis helped Ryan establish the program in Hermosa. Ryan collected donations to pay for the delivery of Envelopes of Life to every household in Hermosa Beach. The forms are now also available at the city firehouse. The envelopes include front door stickers that advise emergency responders to look in the refrigerator for medications and medical information about the house's residents.
Manhattan Beach Fire Chief Dennis Groat said his department utilizes Envelope of Life information at least half a dozen times a month. The only problem with it, he said, is that more people don't use it.
ICE is an acronym for In Case of Emergency. The ICE programs recommends that cell phone owners put the letters ICE in front of the names of their emergency contacts in their cell phone call list. The idea was conceived of by British paramedic Bob Brotchie, who told CBS news in 2005, "Most paramedics spend time looking for a cell phone, not knowing who to call."
The competing ideas for emergency identification eventually convinced Capozzola that for Sol-ID to gain widespread acceptance it would need professional marketing.
"I thought I could run my law firm, do everything else I do, and in my spare time market Sol-Id to its full potential. Clearly, I was wrong," he acknowledged in a recent interview.
An Ounce of Prevention...
Sol-ID's marketing angel walked into Capozzola's Hollywood Riviera office in October 2005, one month after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Manhattan Beach businessman Mark Machuszek went to see Capozzola to discuss an investment opportunity when his attention was caught by the Sol-Id display on Capozzola's desk.
"As soon as I realized what Sol-ID was all about, I immediately wondered why everyone didn't have a Sol-ID sticker in their shoes or sneakers, me included. I jog without identification every week," Machuszek said. "With over 5,100 missing children from hurricane Katrina, I realized Sol-Id could have helped reunite many of those families. So I felt I had to do something about it."
Machuszek took home Sol-ID stickers for his own sneakers and shoes and a few weeks later found himself the vice president of business development for Sol-Id Inc.
The 44-year-old Machuszek possesses a check-this-out collection of classic Baby Boomer cars, benefit of his well-earned reputation as a one-man business incubator. One of his ventures is the trio of Urth Caffés in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, which have attracted widespread media attention as the country's only certified organic cafes. Signing on to help grow Sol-ID Inc. fit nicely with his green business ethos.
"The next time something like Hurricane Katrina happens -- whether it's here in Southern California or somewhere else -- I want to know in my heart that I did all I could to get Sol-ID out there to help save lives and reunite families," he said. "Waiting for something like that to happen again -- God forbid -- is too late. It's better to be proactive about these things, even though no one likes to talk about disasters."
Guerilla Marketing
Job one for Machuszek was redesigning the Sol-ID.com Web site to provide answers to frequently asked questions about Sol-ID and to make it easier to buy Sol-ID tags.
Then he set out to find corporate sponsors to mass distribute Sol-ID. That entailed working up a sales pitch that he has boiled down to bullet-point perfection.
"Sol-ID is a natural solution for corporations and foundations looking to help people because it solves so many critical safety issues," he said. "It's inexpensive, it's private, it can't be lost or stolen, it can't be intercepted by child predators, it has no expensive big brother tracking technology, it's water-proof, hypo-allergenic and it won't break."
One of his first breakthroughs came last year when the Roger Clemens Institute of Sports Medicine and Memorial Hermann Hospital gave away 50,000 Sol-ID tags to runners at the Houston Marathon.
Now he's working to duplicate that success in the South Bay.
"It's a smart, life-saving endeavor for any corporate sponsor," he said. "The South Bay has a lot of runs, 10ks and so on, with lots of children and parents involved. We hope someone will step up locally and distribute Sol-ID tags to those runners."
A culturally hip shoe company like Nike or Skechers could score a public relations coup, he said, if it started inserting Sol-ID into all its shoes and then handing out extra Sol-ID strips at the point of purchase.
"Most consumers own many brands of shoes, so the first shoe company that sponsors Sol-ID will have the ability to place its brand name in their competitor's shoes. Now that's guerilla marketing." he said.
Michael Greenberg, president of Manhattan Beach-based Skechers shoes, when asked his opinion of Sol-ID said, "Sol-ID is an interesting concept and seems like a good way to have medical information readily available in case of an unforeseen emergency. I don't believe Skechers has been approached with this concept, but I think it is worth looking into. Skechers is a family brand that appeals to men, women and kids, of all ages and of all interests, and the Sol-ID tag may be beneficial to them."
Eat at Joe's owner Alex Jordan has already committed to sponsoring Sol-ID tags. He is hoping to distribute them through local police and fire departments.
The Doctor is In
In addition to Machuszek, Capozzola has enlisted Dr. Mary Jo Ford to help sell Sol-ID. Ford, and her husband Dr. Noel Chun run a pain management clinic that is moving next month from Beverly Hills to Hermosa Beach. Chun is a newly elected trustee of the Beach Cities Health District.
"I wanted someone who understands that this is a weighing process," Capozzola said. "A parent needs to weigh the cost of a Sol-ID -- a few pennies -- against the tragedy that could be averted."
During the past two state assembly elections, Ford was the Republican Party nominee against Democrat Jane Harman.
Now she plans to use her political supporters to urge parents to get Sol-ID for their children.
"Parents always worry about their kids when they are out bike riding, skating and snowboarding," Ford said. "Sol-ID can ensure that if something does happen, you and your doctor are quickly contacted."
Ford also said she thinks the time is right for corporate sponsors and the public to take another look at Sol-ID.
"When Tony was marketing Sol-ID in the early '90s, it was pre-9/11 and pre-Katrina, so sense of urgency wasn't there like it is now," she said. "People are more aware now that they could be victims of a natural disaster or even an attack."
The most obvious drawback to Sol-ID is the fact that medical responders won't know to look inside a victim's shoe for his or her identification card. D.A.R.E sent flyers to 5,000 emergency rooms across the nation advising doctors to look in patients' shoes for identification. But Sol-ID is still not a well known program.
Capozzola recognizes the problem but doesn't see it as insurmountable.
"What if," he said, "state and federal legislatures encouraged shoe manufactures to include medical identification forms inside all shoes. If automobile manufacturers can be required to install seatbelts and air cushions, why shouldn't shoe manufacturers put medical identification forms in its shoes?" he asked.
ER
Sol-ID... Your sticker for Life
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