Talking Shop with Conrad Klusmeier, EMA Alert inventor

Conrad Klusmeier wanted to protect his father, who had just been released from the hospital. His background as an emergency responder told him his father's home could be hard for an ambulance to find. He knew helping emergency responders to find his father's house could save them precious seconds, and possibly save his life. That's how his product, EMA Alert, was born. He hopes it will revolutionize home safety and the invention is now competing in Wal-Mart's "Get on the Shelf" contest. The three inventions with the most votes will win a chance to sell their products on Walmart.com or in physical Walmart stores. To vote for this product, go to www.ema-alert.com.

Q: What inspired you to create EMA Alert?

A: My inspiration for EMA Alert came from when my dad was in the hospital and when he was release from the hospital he wasn't doing well but was good enough to go home. As a son, I wanted to do something to help protect my dad and as a former police officer I knew that when responding to emergency calls, it was hard to find the houses sometimes. That is when I came up with the idea of an emergency light that would mount to the front of the house to alert the emergency responders which house was having the emergency. One night my dad wasn't doing well and they had to call 911, the ambulance saw the flashing light on the house from almost one mile away and they came directly to the house without slowing down to look for the addresses, which sped up the response time. That's when I knew if this could help my parents, it could help many other families in Southeast Missouri. So I made a few more and gave them to some of my clients to help them, which began the need for more and more.

Q: What is EMA Alert and how does it work?

The EMA Alert was invented by Conrad Klusmeier to help direct emergency responders to the right house. (Fred Lynch)

A: What is the EMA Alert, a high powered red and blue flashing light that mounts either on your residence or in the window of your residence that is remotely activated from anywhere inside the residence that will identify your house during an emergency, making it stand out from all the other houses on the street or in the area. Plus the neighbors will see the light as well and come check on you.

Q: Where is EMA Alert made and sold?

A: The EMA Alert is made here in Cape by myself and sold on my website www.ema-alert.com and through word-of-mouth.

Q: How do you hope the "Get on the Shelf" contest will help you?

A: What I hope to get out of "Get on the Shelf" is national exposure, since so many people from across the nation will be looking at the video entries. Maybe someone out there will see it and call me wanting to be a distributor or a retailer other than Wal-Mart might want it in their stores.

Q: While EMA Alert gains exposure, what's your full-time job?

A: My full-time job is a financial adviser, which I love because I get to help people get to follow their dreams in retirement. That's what I'm doing with EMA Alert, following my dream of becoming an inventor with a product that could save someone's life and be as common as the smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector that is common now in people homes. I also worked previously as a police officer at Scott City Police Department. That is why I knew the importance of the emergency light.