A UBC medical student wants to use the latest technology to help some of the most vulnerable people in society.
Isabel Chen is proposing to launch a panic button to help sex trade workers stay safe.
If a worker pushes the panic button it would send a text message to a specific phone number and alert that person to the user’s location through GPS.
“As I was finishing my masters in Public Health at Yale, I studied primarily domestic violence, and the major findings from that report, my study, indicated that more than ever, young Asian immigrants are actually at highest risk of the most serious types of domestic abuse,” said Chen.
She said when she was presenting this trend at various conferences, the topic of sex trade work came up as a possible reason for such a high risk.
“We looked into research on similar safety alarms actually being very successful in brothels, in stationary locations,” said Chen, “so we thought why not combine the mobility of GPS alarms with the proven increased safety, and try to pilot that in Vancouver.”
Anyone can donate to the project through their website.
Chen is working with two other students, Kyle Ragins and Vanessa Forro.
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