Island Treasures Mini Podcast: Geri-Gadgets®

Angela Fairhurst demonstrates the 3 Geri-Gadgets ®  buckets that, as an entrepeneur she designed and created to enhance the lives of folks living with dementia.  There's the Fidget-Gadget ® bucket, the Shapes bucket and the Flower bucket.  Each bucket has its own unique contents to bring activity, joy and engagement to your loved one.

Transcript

Thank you for tuning in to the Island Treasures Podcast.

We value the insights shared by our guests and hosts, but it's important to note that their personal experiences are intended to inform and encourage, and not to replace professional, legal, or medical advice.

With that, we are ready for today's exciting episode. Welcome to the Island Treasures mini podcast for caregivers. I am your host and caregiver consultant, Alison van Schie, from beautiful Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

Today's mini episode is a follow-up to the full episode called A Caregiver's Innovative Creation with Angela Fairhurst.

And in the following video clip, Angela describes each of the Geri-Gadget buckets that she created after observing her mom's need for tactile stimulation.

Angela discovered that the Gadgets not only improved their interactions, but had a wonderful effect of improving her mom's behavior as well.

And so we wanted our listeners to be able to see the products, so this mini episode is available as a video as well as in audio format. Now here's Angela to tell us all about Geri-Gadgets.

Yeah, I'm Angela Fairhurst. I am a television producer by trade, but I turned into an entrepreneur when my mom got Lewy Body Dementia.

Unfortunately, she was misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's at first, and that was a wild ride of one anti-psychotic medication after another.

But after the seventh medication, I discovered her sensory need while she was touching a magazine paper and rolling it. And so I started bringing her objects because her behavior was terrible. She was kicking and biting.

And so the first thing I brought her from the toy department was a bucket. And it was one of those that had the shapes that had to fit into the holes. And she had a clenched hand and couldn't possibly get one of the shapes in the holes.

And she was taking those shapes and sipping on them like they were cups. And so I thought that was really interesting. And she was but very curious about the bucket.

And so I love that's where the bucket idea was born. And so I was determined to find things for her to engage with. And I brought fabric.

And fabric didn't work because it was, I had the material everywhere. And the Fidget items from the drugstore had pieces coming off. And they were toxic.

And that didn't work. But my aha moment came when I cut down a silicone pot holder to about this size. And she loved the crunch sound when folded up.

And she was excited about it. And we threw it back and forth like a frisbee. And this became my aha moment.

Like, oh my god, this was it. All that bad behavior dissipated. Seriously.

And so the Sensory Matt was born. And Geri-Gadgets was born. I was determined to create a line of products that were dishwasher safe and were high quality, non-toxic and could engage her.

And so the Fidget-Gadget bucket is the first one that has five manipulatives. The Sensory Matt was the first one. I was determined to find stuff that could work for her clenched hand.

And so poppers are very familiar, but the triangle shape is not so much. And this shape is, you know, yellow is bright, all the colors of Geri-Gadgets. My mom had a cataracts coming.

And so everything is bright, but not made for, it's made for the Golder Eye, but certainly not disrespectful. We're trying to be colorful. We're not primary colors for children.

Anyway, but this is great for exercising the hands and arms, and the popper is a fun thing. So it can be as a hand toy, as well as a popper. The click chain is great for exercising the hands and arms as well.

The noise stimulates sounds that remind me of maybe cracking ice or walking on leaves. Certainly can't get over their head, so this keeps somebody entertained. It's again non-toxic.

The tugger is colorful straws and elastic, and can be used to fold up or pull apart one hand, two hands, and it's great for one person or two, so we could play a tug of war if we wanted.

And then we have an egg, which is obviously a familiar shape, and I talk about it being in the Goldilocks zone, so it's the perfect size and the perfect tension, and good for exercising the hands and arms, and for fidgeting, that's why it's called

the Fidget-Gadget Bucket. And the second bucket is called the shapes bucket, and this was inspired by Tetris. It has ten colorful shapes of the Tetris-type shapes.

I'd love to show you that they have stars on one side and a smooth surface on the other. The bucket can be used. They can be stacked anyway.

There's no wrong answer. It's a failure-free way to go. If they're knocked over, that's great too.

It doesn't matter. But there's no wrong answer with this. And so if somebody has more dexterity, they can just build it standing up.

And if they have less dexterity, so they're further along in their dementia, they can just lay them flat. And this can be used, utilize the bucket or not. And there, again, just keeps on going.

There's more in there, but that's what shapes bucket is. And so if they drop them, put them in their mouth, there's no bite marks. Everything is machine washable.

Like I said, dishwasher safe. And then the flowers, of course, tulips are a great flower. My uncle was a florist, and I grew up in a flower shop, so I had to do a flower bucket.

And tulips are so beautifully symbolic because they rise with the sun. And that's what Geri-Gadgets do. They make somebody just light up.

And the flowers are so durable that they can go any which way. And there's no wire in the leaf. And the bucket is, the vase is reinforced so the flowers can go in the side.

So there's endless possibilities of creativity, of everything. And Geri-Gadgets does. That's why we're Packaging.

And this is just the beginning of the line of products for the future. So that sums them up.

So it's built to last, failure free, you know, completely washable and the multi, the engagement with a loved one and the respite for caregiving, you know, we say peace of mind and quality of life. Well, really, less is more simple.

No training necessary for Geri-Gadgets.

Thank you for that great demonstration, Angela. Now, if you've ever wondered, what can you bring as a gift for a loved one who's living with dementia? You have these great options now.

For instance, instead of bringing a bouquet of flowers, which does have a shelf life, you could bring your loved one a Geri-Gadgets flower bucket, a gift of flowers that keeps on giving.

I recognize how precious your time is, especially as caregivers. And so this mini podcast is designed just for you. And when you have more time, I invite you to listen to the full episode with Angela Fairhurst.

If you need some supports, I invite you to tap into alongside caregiverconsulting.ca. And if you want more information from Angela, her website is gerigadgets.com. If you have a question or a comment, you can text the link in the show notes.

And if you enjoyed the episode, and I hope you did, be sure to tell a friend, especially if they're a caregiver. Thank you for tuning in today. See you next episode.