European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 8, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine at last your Chiti Hasan . Tags should be laced into shoes or sewn into shirts jacket collars and bathing suits. Id tags for everyone by Walter Hennessey new York bureaus California father and son would like to give service members a Gilt that could save heir children s lives. Their a forts have saved Many lives Over the past five years and certainly that number will grow by leaps Rand Bounds. If was Aff born of 3 seemingly simple idea in Pursuit of which a California advertising Man quit Hio Job. Second mortgaged his House and nearly went broke. The and Man. George Wager jr., still remembers 1he Day Way 27. 1983 when he got the brainstorm that put him out of the advertising business and into the be saving business the local Buena Park newspaper had run a Story that Day about inc tragic death of a boy who was struck by a car and suffered severe head injuries. The 9 year old victim carried no identification and it took  hours to locate the Mother delaying maximum medical treatment because there was no Parent available to sign a consent lorm Al the Hospital. Twenty hours later the child was dead. Often to avoid malpractice litigation doctors want parental consent. Unless 0 child is obvious to in mortal danger operations and treatment of injuries can tic delayed. In this Case the physicians underestimated the situation thai s when a very disturbing thought struck Wager his great Dane licensed by the town was romping around Hie Yard wearing More identification than this kids. This is ridiculous Wager us right to himself. His three youngsters a fourth. George if has coma along Vincej needed to s Loo. So Wager with some help irom Kimberly claim Orch produced a washable material that could be marked with a Fine line pen. Designed one. H is a tiny id tag no larger than the cleaning instructions on a shirt or Blouse yet durable enough to withstand 26 washings Wager figured that parents could Ink vital information onto his tags attach them to Ihetu children s shoelaces their Shirls and sweaters even their bathing suits. The tags would include a one Solence consent form which they would sign so that in any medical emergency doctors would be Mahln to administer Lull treatment without being concerned with he need to locate a Parent or Legal guardian. Wager s tags would identity the child and Tell where he lives list the phone number of the family doctor and include such Inlo Malion As blood Type allergies the name of the parents insurance company and even policy numbers. So wage quit is Job and dug deep into his own pocket to gel his 10 emergency tags into circulation founding Lue Saver charities a non prof t organization. He and his Wile Kathleen figured they would gel by on Hor income until the fledgling Enterprise got Oil the ground surety people would see the obvious need and respond accordingly but there was a. Catch no one teemed to be All that interested. Willin a few months. Wager was behind in his mortgage payments and Tho Bank was ready to late he House. The Bank allowed him an Extension when it discovered How he had gotten in such a Biol m the Lisl place. Still. Wager became depressed and was about to abandon Iho d tag project. That s when a Mitchell s.d., Ponce sergeant came into the picture the drag Earl. Douglas Felt Nan. Had Learned Aboul the emergency lags and got two for his daughters. Now he wanted to know in George could spare 17,000 More before Long Feltman had handed out 30,000 o them Anil hat interested Tocol Banks and companies in tag programs. Word spread last. There were press service stories about the Little tags tha could same kids lives schools police departments vets organizations and service dubs like the elks. Lions and Moose got involved. Wager though $80,000 in debt by now redoubled his efforts. Mail was pouring in Iron All Over the country requesting lags and thanking him Lor his lifesaving idea. In the five years since it All began Over 150 million have been distributed. Wager s father a retired businessman who watched his son Teeter Al the outset on the Brink of financial ruin now works Lull time As a sales consultant for Lifesaver charities travelling the country to encourage major corporations to Supply tags to employees and customers. I do the missionary work said George Wager of during a recent interview in new York City. The goal is to tag everyone on this planet. We Are never going to reach ii but we won t Slop trying i could get every Large clothing manufacturer to sew in tags at the factory h would be a major step Forward. Rio Ingaby he explained the lags were intended Lor preschoolers. But then we discovered that there is an absolute need Lor everyone to Wear a tag. Norw of us you me anybody is Ever More Irwin a heartbeat away irom a medical emergency. Senior citizens with memory loss Are at great risk they can wander of most with an Accident or Suiter an attack and no one knows who they  Tho Alder Wager said that although a had doubts about his son s project Al the Start especially when things started turning tour i newer tried to talk non out of in. A la edmo into it sometimes 1  re own at night and just read our mail we get thousands of looters Overy Peov and Reading them 15 a real Solis action. I la never forget one we got from o Man named Moody in Victoria Texas he said 1 wish someone would have thought of this 17 years ago. I d have tags today " a great boost for the tag program came in 1986 when Reader s digest panted a four Page article about he tags end George or s near Brush with bankruptcy. Ii produced an Avalanche of 300,000 letters from parents and children alike swamping the Wager family and their in Eill stall which even Lodi totals Only a Hall dozen members aside from the two Georges among some recent letters a woman in Hawaii wrote that her daughter Jenny had a bad escalator Accident and Hal doctors would t do anything until they reached me. Which was a Long time after the Accident. Please Send me two lags. Tried would mean so  an elementary school teacher from Sunnyvale Calif said she had seen too Many Kris Walling in pain White someone tries to find their  a St Louis mo., woman named Judy told of a boy about 10 who was struck by a camper the police were unable to identify him for Aboul five hours and then Only through our Parish priest the boy died at the Hospital before they could locate his  last june Wager attended a while House luncheon at which Ronald Reagan honoured him with the 1987 president s Volunteer action award in the Public safety category. When they called my name logo up and shake the president s hand  like to say that i said something witty he recalls. But the truth is i would t even swear in happened i was that  George si., meanwhile continues to spread a wagers emergency lag gospel. Some of the firms joining the Ellort include buggies makers of diapers Johnson & Johnson which promotes the tags for its employees in a monthly House Organ Nabisco brands Prudential insurance co and Arkla Arkansas Louisiana Gas co which provides tags for local school systems and its customers. The makers of hush puppies have distributed Over o million tags in a Hydren a shoes and the mermen co. Will won be fitting lags Over the lops of then bottled baby Oil and other products. To a Ger keep their no Vorom Effort afloat financially in two ways corporate sales and voluntary donations . Corporations Purchase tags in various size lot,1 George or. Explained. Beginning Al to for 1,000 tag. Trial s four cents a lag. The More they want the Leas they pay. Indr rituals wanting lags sometimes Sand a donation with Thair request maybe someone wis Send a Check for a or $10 for 10 lags or so. But whatever the donation even u there i none at All they Al get their tags Wager added Hal any Price a foe department or school system can have As Many As they can possibly use for nothing. All they have to do to  service members who want to have tags Lor Rhett children themselves their spouse or any other dependent May tend their requests together with a stamped sell addressed envelope to  charities. . Box 12s-ss, Buena Park Casi. 90621. Friday aprils 1988 the stars and stripes Page 13