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January 21, 2019January 21, 2019

The Cane on the Floor

I am a member of a the Rotary Club of Coeur d’Alene with weekly meetings on Friday at noon. Last Friday I noticed that Jack was at the meeting with a walking cane. The banquet room was full and Jack’s cane was on the floor. Now this is a common occurrence in public places but it presents two problems. First a cane on the floor presents a tripping hazard for servers and other dining guests. The second issue is that the floor is the place with the most germs. So at the end of the lunch meeting I took Jack’s cane and snapped it into a Cane Companion and demonstrated it’s usefulness. He recognized the value and helpfulness right away! Think of the many people we know that can benefit from something so simple and useful.

September 16, 2017

Bill’s New Cane Experience

My friend Bill fell down the stairs and sustained some injuries that lead to months of recovery. He is a successful inventor and product developer with several successes. Every month I see Bill at a meeting of the Association of Idaho Inventors where ideas are shared and new products are birthed.

Over the course of a year I’d developed the Over the Chair Cane Holder, but if you don’t use a cane there is little reason to be interested in such things. However Bill showed up with a cane and reported that his injuries would require months of using a cane. So I presented an Over the Chair Cane Holder to Bill and encouraged him to find it useful in keeping his cane off of the floor. A month went by and I saw Bill again proudly using the Over the Chair Cane Holder with his cane. His comment to me: “what a useful item to keep your cane off of the floor.”

Folks with canes know when something works. I’ve showed the Over the Chair Cane Holder to many people and almost always get the comment “how do I get one of those?” If you have a friend or family member with a cane it is time they enjoyed keeping their cane off of the floor too.

May 16, 2017

Richland, Oregon Cafe Customers

My son and I stopped in New Bridge, Oregon to visit my nephew. It was an idyllic spring day with fluorescent green grass, cows with calves, and blooming flowers. It was lunch time so we drove the 3 miles from New Bridge to Richland to the Short Horn Bar and Grill. It is the only place to eat and people visit with each other in small town fashion. An elderly couple come in while we are finishing our meal. The lady commented on a recent hip replacement and deftly demonstrated her cane. We prepare to leave and stop at their table to chat. She mentions just having reached a 90th birthday and a remark is made that there is quite a club of folks in their 90’s in the area. I offer both of them Over the Chair Cane Holders and explain the value of keeping a cane off of the floor. Both she and her companion are delighted with the recognition of cane usage and a solution of where to put it!

April 24, 2017

Thinking Outside of the Box on Monday

Monday the week starts with a bang. In our context we have breakfast, check email, make sure the phones are charged. Then its out the door to school or work or to the office in our home.

Time to revisit a conversation about the difficulty of elderly married couples communicating with each other. The market place is filled with baby monitors, spy cameras, and security systems. But not much in the way of communication tools for folks in their 90’s.

It is interesting to comprehend how youth oriented we are and how little effort we are putting into the successful independence of the huge wave of people moving into their 80’s and 90’s.