LYCOS hosts Web site for special child-protection program   PITTSBURGH, PA (BW HealthWire) - Premier Internet Navigation Center Lycos, Inc. announced today that it will host a site on the World Wide Web for The Watchful Shepherd, a child abuse protection and prevention program run by the Allegheny General Hospital, Allegheny County Children & Youth Services, and the Pittsburgh Police Department. Lycos, Inc., which has its roots and computer operations in the Pittsburgh community, is providing WWW server space to The Watchful Shepherd for their first-ever Web site. The Lycos suite of free navigational services support millions of Internet users worldwide from computers housed in the company's Pittsburgh office. Lycos has donated a piece of Web server real estate to the cause of children's advocacy in the Pittsburgh area, as well as banner advertising to promote the Web site. It is estimated that 65% of child abuse victims are abused by adults with whom they live. The Watchful Shepherd is designed to protect children from abuse and neglect in the home by incorporating existing community resources with a unique technology that provides children at risk for abuse with 24-hour, immediate access to medical and law enforcement professionals. Pioneered by Washington County, Pennsylvania businessman and children's advocate Joe Femiani, The Watchful Shepherd is similar to the "Lifeline" technology utilized by homebound senior citizens in that it provides children with a physical device -- in the form of a wristwatch or pendant -- to summon help in an emergency. The program was originally piloted at Canonsburg Hospital in Washington County, PA, and is making its way throughout the state and nationwide. "The Watchful Shepherd has done so much good for so many childrenat risk of abuse," said Joe Femiani, director, "and the fact that one of the most highly trafficked sites on the Internet has taken an interest in helping us to promote our program on the World Wide Web has brought us inquiries from all over the globe. We've had inquiriesnow from New Jersey to Israel, and as a result, people all over the world are learning about and implementing this program or programs like it to help children." "It's better than television," Femiani continued, "because with the Web, people can communicate back and forth. As a result of this immediate access and information, people are making the decision to help children that much more quickly. What Lycos has done is help bring children out of the worst possible disease: isolation." The Web site was designed by Vic Sulkowski of Market Central Inc., a manufacturer of specialized computer accessories, which also custom-designed the apparatus used in the Watchful Shepherd initiative. If a child feels threatened and activates The Watchful Shepherd, the device sends a message to the hospital's emergency room and through a computerized database. Health care professionals there areprovided with the identity, location and case history of the child, and have the ability to communicate verbally with the child through a home-base unit. Law enforcement personnel are immediately dispatched to the scene. Using the power of the Internet's interactivity to target people with specific interests, Lycos has linked the donated banner advertisements to appropriate key words. When a user searches on theterm "abuse," for example, a banner advertisement displays at the top of the site, offering the user a direct link to The Watchful Shepherd's own Web site.