John & BJ's Story
BJ has always been a driven person to achieve her goals.
She started out as a nurse working in hospitals, doctor’s offices, public health clinics, and HMO’s. She later moved
into administration and concentrated on total quality management for hospitals. While working full time and extensively traveling, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. BJ later became a hospital consultant who
traveled 100% of the time. Basically, she departed on trips to her hospitals on Sunday night or Monday morning and then returned Friday night or Saturday morning. She had dedicated her life to helping improve medical care for others.
On Aug. 26, 2003, I was laid off from my job. BJ returned home immediately from her work trip. That Friday, Aug. 29, BJ had gotten up early to go to our home office and start doing emails and travel plans. When she stepped out of the bathroom, she looked at me and fell forward onto the bed. My first reaction was surprise. I thought she was joking. When she could not move a muscle (other than blinking of her eyes) and could not utter a sound, I dialed 911. The paramedics got her to the hospital quickly where they immediately started treatment.
She then spent time in the emergency ward, ICU, neurological ward, and the inpatient rehab unit over the next few months. The challenges were numerous with communication and right side paralysis being quite frustrating. The severe paralysis made sitting up, eating, and other normal functions extremely difficult and the effects of tone caused her hand and wrist to contract severely despite medication.
BJ tried a number of different splints to help stretch her wrist and fingers. Whether these were standard commercial products or custom made, they never quite did the job. They were not adjustable, and they relied on straps to compress the fingers and wrist into stretched positions. She could not put on the splints herself or adjust them to increase the amount of stretch after her muscles relaxed a bit.
Two years ago we started with the idea of developing a new style of splint. Our goals included a splint that BJ could put on by herself and could adjust by herself. We wanted it to be portable, to be simple to use and understand, and to not depend on straps to hold the wrist, fingers, and thumb in position. BJ’s input from wearing the prototypes daily was key to the evolution of the design. The AllSplint™ device is the result of her input and testing with numerous other patients and therapists.
She started out as a nurse working in hospitals, doctor’s offices, public health clinics, and HMO’s. She later moved
into administration and concentrated on total quality management for hospitals. While working full time and extensively traveling, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. BJ later became a hospital consultant who
traveled 100% of the time. Basically, she departed on trips to her hospitals on Sunday night or Monday morning and then returned Friday night or Saturday morning. She had dedicated her life to helping improve medical care for others.
On Aug. 26, 2003, I was laid off from my job. BJ returned home immediately from her work trip. That Friday, Aug. 29, BJ had gotten up early to go to our home office and start doing emails and travel plans. When she stepped out of the bathroom, she looked at me and fell forward onto the bed. My first reaction was surprise. I thought she was joking. When she could not move a muscle (other than blinking of her eyes) and could not utter a sound, I dialed 911. The paramedics got her to the hospital quickly where they immediately started treatment.
She then spent time in the emergency ward, ICU, neurological ward, and the inpatient rehab unit over the next few months. The challenges were numerous with communication and right side paralysis being quite frustrating. The severe paralysis made sitting up, eating, and other normal functions extremely difficult and the effects of tone caused her hand and wrist to contract severely despite medication.
BJ tried a number of different splints to help stretch her wrist and fingers. Whether these were standard commercial products or custom made, they never quite did the job. They were not adjustable, and they relied on straps to compress the fingers and wrist into stretched positions. She could not put on the splints herself or adjust them to increase the amount of stretch after her muscles relaxed a bit.
Two years ago we started with the idea of developing a new style of splint. Our goals included a splint that BJ could put on by herself and could adjust by herself. We wanted it to be portable, to be simple to use and understand, and to not depend on straps to hold the wrist, fingers, and thumb in position. BJ’s input from wearing the prototypes daily was key to the evolution of the design. The AllSplint™ device is the result of her input and testing with numerous other patients and therapists.