TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Facedrive Inc. ("Facedrive") (TSXV:FD) (OTCQX:FDVRF), a Canadian "people-and-planet first" technology ecosystem, is pleased to announce that TraceSCAN, the COVID-19 wearable contact tracing solution developed by Facedrive Health, has been adopted for reserve-wide use by the Waywayseecappo First Nation ("Waywayseecappo") located in Western Manitoba following a successful pilot project. Waywayseecappo is a Treaty 4 Ojibway First Nation. Many First Nation communities have been hit by the pandemic outbreak particularly hard, and Waywayseecappo is taking a hands-on approach in adopting the TraceSCAN cutting-edge wearable solution to combat the advance of COVID-19 virus in their community and serve as a blueprint for other First Nations.
Adoption of the TraceSCAN technology on a reserve-wide scale will involve equipping all members of the Waywayseecappo community, including frontline workers, school children and senior citizens, with a personal wearable device, as well as installation of the supporting infrastructure throughout the First Nation. Visitors will be fitted with the technology. The TraceSCAN team has traveled to Waywayseecappo for deployment of the technology, knowledge transfer and to raise awareness of contact tracing efforts and their effectiveness in preventing the spread of the virus. Moreover, a number of technical support workers have been trained locally to ensure ongoing assistance to all TraceSCAN users. The reserve-wide adoption of TraceSCAN has been extremely well-received by the community members and garnered substantial interest from neighboring businesses, reserves and towns currently considering expanding the rollout into their territories.
The TraceSCAN contact-tracing wearable solution is powered by cutting-edge Bluetooth technology enabling it to work as a standalone device. Developed jointly by Facedrive Health and a group of researchers from the University of Waterloo, TraceSCAN has received endorsement of the Government of Ontario and support for further enterprise deployment. TraceSCAN solutions are powered through Microsoft Azure which, as reported earlier, marks the first step in a collaboration between Microsoft Azure and Facedrive. Following numerous successful implementations with enterprise customers such as LiUNA, Air Canada, and others, and a spiking demand for multifunctional connected health solutions, TraceSCAN has rapidly expanded its use case scenarios into multiple business sectors such as recreation, travel, food processing, construction and other industries.
The engagement with the Waywayseecappo community comes as an integral move furthering the company's ESG mandate across its health, TaaS, food delivery, marketplace and communication platform verticals. Technologies such as TraceSCAN come forth to play a crucial role among communities afflicted by a lack of resources or healthcare facilities in these unprecedented times. As many First Nations communities still have data connectivity issues rendering app-based solutions considerably less effective, TraceSCAN stands out as a solution of choice with cutting-edge Bluetooth wearable technology enabling it to perform the contact tracing function without use of a mobile device. The adoption comes on the heels of Phil Fontaine's appointment as a Strategic Advisor to Facedrive. An aboriginal Canadian leader and former three-term National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Mr. Fontaine is an articulate advocate for the future of Canada's indigenous peoples. Mr. Fontaine will continue to play an essential role in liaising with the Waywayseecappo community and communicating the needs of the reserve to Facedrive. Should TraceSCAN be implemented by other First Nations communities, it is expected that Mr. Fontaine will also play a similar role.
"We are delighted to have successfully completed the pilot project with the Waywayseecappo community, and are now moving forward with a full-scale adoption of the TraceSCAN technology among all of its members. The Waywayseecappo First Nation is the first Indigenous Nation to implement our wearable solution to protect its citizens and help stop the spread of COVID-19, and we realize the honor and the responsibility that comes with it. Our teams are working tirelessly both onsite and at base to ensure smooth implementation, excellent customer experience and, above all, effective contact tracing among all users," said Sayan Navaratnam, Chairman and CEO of Facedrive. "We see this adoption as a big milestone leading to potential rollouts among other First Nations, with massive opportunities to equip over 1.6M Indigenous community citizens with this contact tracing technology in Canada alone. It is a part of our commitment as an ESG ecosystem to continue offering essential and time-critical health solutions to all members of our society."
"We have received positive feedback and exceptional results following our pilot project with TraceSCAN. Our community feels confident and optimistic about successfully navigating this pandemic with help of this pioneering yet easy-to-use contact tracing technology," said Murray Clearsky, Chief of the Waywayseecappo First Nation and a leader of his community's virus spread prevention efforts since the beginning of the pandemic. "Upon careful consideration, we have made the decision to move forward with this solution and provide all our people with the TraceSCAN devices. The Waywayseecappo members are supportive of the idea and looking forward to receiving training and equipment," added Clearsky.
About the Waywayseecappo First Nation
The Waywayseecappo First Nation is located 32 km east of Russell in Manitoba, Canada. The First Nation is 10,059 hectares large, and is located near the southwestern corner of the Riding Mountain National Park. It is bordered by the Rural Municipality of Rossburn and the Rural Municipality of Silver Creek. The First Nation also holds interest together with 32 other First Nations on the 37.1 hectare Treaty Four Reserve Grounds (Indian Reserve No. 77), located adjacent to Fort Qu'Appelle. Its population is 1,679 people. There are various businesses located in the Birdtail valley near PTH 45, such as a gas station, RCMP station, food mart, gaming centre, health centre, daycare, and community arena complex.
About Facedrive
Facedrive is a multi-faceted “people-and-planet first” tech ecosystem offering socially-responsible services to local communities with a strong commitment to doing business fairly, equitably and sustainably. As part of this commitment, Facedrive’s vision is to fulfil its mandate through a number of verticals that either leverage existing technologies of the Company or project synergies with existing lines of business (the “Facedrive Verticals”). The Facedrive Verticals include its rideshare business (“Facedrive Rideshare”), sustainable e-commerce platform (“Facedrive Marketplace”), food-delivery service (“Facedrive Foods”), e-social platform (“Facedrive Social”) and its contact-tracing and sustainable health services business (“Facedrive Health”).
Facedrive Rideshare was among the first to offer a wide variety of environmentally and socially responsible solutions in the Transportation as a Service (TaaS) space, planting thousands of trees based on user consumption and offering choices between electric, hybrid and conventional vehicles (including, more recently, electric and hybrid vehicles on a subscription basis through Steer). Facedrive Marketplace offers curated merchandise created from sustainably sourced materials. Facedrive Foods offers contactless delivery of a wide variety of foods right to consumers’ doorsteps, with a focus on doing so in a socially and environmentally-conscious manner. Facedrive Social strives to keep people connected in a physically-distanced world through its HiQ and other e-socialization platforms that invite users to interact based on common interests and by offering gamification and mutual community support features. Facedrive Health strives to develop and offer innovative technological solutions to the most acute health challenges including its proprietary TraceSCAN wearable technology for contact tracing. Facedrive envisions changing the ridesharing, food delivery, e-commerce, social and health tech narratives for the better, for everyone, and is currently operational in Canada and the United States.
For more about Facedrive, visit www.facedrive.com.
Facedrive Inc.
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www.facedrive.com
Forward-Looking Information
Certain information in this press release contains forward-looking information. This information is based on management’s reasonable assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to us and are made as of the date of this press release. Actual results (such as the success of the implementation or the adoption of TraceSCAN by other First Nations) and the timing of events may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information as a result of various factors. Information regarding our expectations of future results, performance, achievements, prospects or opportunities or the markets in which we operate is forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not facts but instead represent management’s expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events or circumstances. Many factors could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements or future events or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
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