For Immediate Release: July 15, 2006
For more information, contact: media@protectedtomorrows.com

LifeCare Design Studio Focuses on Helping People
with Special Needs

Lincolnshire, Illinois - Protected Tomorrows, Inc. introduces it's LifeCare Design Studio to families/ individuals with special needs and to the private sector businesses.

"The LifeCare Design Studio will allow us to add another dimension to the residential component of our life planning process," said Mary Anne Ehlert, founder and president of Protected Tomorrows, an advocacy firm for the special needs community. Protected Tomorrows is made up of a nationwide network of Advocates that works one-on-one with families to develop a Future Care Plan™. Advocates guide families through a unique and comprehensive eight-step planning process that includes residential issues. "Our vision is to assist in building more homes and residential communities for people with special needs," Ehlert said. Nationwide, there is an average of 10 year waiting list for adults with developmental disabilities seeking an independent or assisted-living residential facility.

An estimated 77 million Americans (one in five families) have a disability with many of them needing long-term care. With medical advances, people with disabilities have a greater likelihood of outliving their parents and guardians than at any other time in history. "There's a growing need to sufficiently serve people with various special needs whether that person is a child, an adult or an elderly individual," Ehlert said.

Ramesh Gulatee, NCARB, a licensed architect in the U.S. and Canada, has been named principal of the LifeCare Design Studio. He brings more than 25 years of international architectural experience to the position, 15 of which he spent leading numerous multi-million dollar projects around the world, including Italy, Brazil and Canada. Ramesh has worked extensively since 1997 on housing projects in the Chicago area. Before joining the Protected Tomorrows team, he was senior architect and senior project manager at a local Architecture firm in Chicago.

Mr. Gulatee's most notable work with the disabilities community involved the Benny Farm in Montreal, Canada, which houses World War II veterans. Acting as project architect, Ramesh designed a customized universal access housing assignment for quadriplegic veterans. "It was very rewarding knowing that the project allowed me to give back to the soldiers who fought for our freedom and provide them the ability to live more independently within the facility," Ramesh said.

"We are pleased to have a person with such expertise and a real understanding of the special needs community to lead this division of our company," Ehlert said. Ramesh's first project with Protected Tomorrows was the LifeCare Center, in Lincolnshire, Ill., serving as the project architect and as construction manager for the $2.2 million project. The Center houses businesses dedicated to the special needs community, including the corporate offices of Protected Tomorrows and now the LifeCare Design Studio.

"I am looking forward to focusing on the design-build aspect of architecture to improve the living and working environments of people with special needs," Ramesh Gulatee said. The LifeCare Design Studio offers ADA consultancy, planning, designing and building services for existing and new businesses, specialized homes, and assisted-living and community settings emphasizing barrier-free and universal access strategies.

"It's the mission of Protected Tomorrows to see that individuals with special needs have the opportunity to live life to their fullest potential," Ehlert added. "Ramesh will play a big part in seeing that come to fruition."

For more information on the LifeCare Design Studio, go to www.lifecaredesignstudio.com. To learn more about Protected Tomorrows, visit www.protectedtomorrows.com.