With so many things taken away during illness, it’s easy to lose your identity, your personal style and your time. Let’s face it hospitals and medical appointments can feel cold and clinical, but this can become, for some people, a huge part of their daily lives. Being in a dull waiting room or hospital ward is not something we choose to be part of. Yet here we are, and the transition to this new season in our lives can be sudden, unexpected and scary.
Finding the words to say during these tough times is hard and so can finding the right gift. Let us introduce five businesses who are creating products and services which evolved from their own experiences in the medical world and are now helping others. Meet the inspiring women and their amazing brands.
THE AWAKENDED MUMMA WELLNESS
Sally-Anne is extremely passionate about supporting and educating people who have been diagnosed with cancer. She herself is a Cancer Survivor and a Clinical Nurse Consultant. Sally-Anne provides education resources and 1:1 consultancy to clients who want to learn about how and what to prioritise in their recovery.
“I believe that knowledge is key to a better cancer journey”.
Through her unique experience with cancer from a supportive role and as a patient she has written a book sharing her own personal experience and openly discusses many important topics.
“I know how confusing, overwhelming, and lonely a cancer journey can be.
I understand what it feels like to rethink and question your life priorities, to struggle with body image and self-esteem challenges, to negotiate returning to work, and to manage the fears and ‘what ifs’ of a cancer recurrence. These are the topics that we don’t often discuss with our medical team, yet they are paramount in our recovery.”
Sally-Anne is someone you want to listen to. Sally’s book A Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Invisible Cancer Load is a must read and makes a perfect gift.
DOSEY
Pretty and stylish are not words that you would usually use to describe pill cases but Honor, owner of DOSEY might just change your mind. This fresh take on the pill organiser is bringing style to many needing to taking regular tablets and especially when needing to take them on the go.
At age 36, Honor was experiencing serious health issues and now needs to take daily vitamins and digestive enzymes with every meal to ensure her body functions at its peak. This need for daily medication led Honor to designing a product that not only looked good but also supported her in remembering to take her tablets. She has reinvented the way we look at storing, organising and transporting your medication.
There are pretty pill wallets, reusable pouches and even a gorgeous little water flask for when you are out and about. The DOSEY collection is made from vegan leather and available in dusty pink, black, latte and sage.
Never miss a dose with Dosey
LULA SELF-WARMING EYE MASK
Sisters Aisling and Margaret radiate warmth and kindness; just like the beautiful products that have brought to Australia.
While creating their first eye mask samples, Margaret received the unexpected news that she had breast cancer and just six weeks later Aisling was to receive the same shocking diagnosis as her sister, she too had breast cancer. Despite the setback they continued working on their self-care brand testing and perfecting the warmth and scents during surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. They fell in love with their own product by finding comfort in the eye masks when feeling unwell during chemo and times in hospital. The sisters were forced to slow right down and have learnt that it is such a gift to take time for yourself, but it should be a gift we give ourselves every day, without guilt, especially women, who often don’t think they deserve or should slow down.
The Lula Self-Warming Eye Mask is no ordinary sleep mask, it automatically warms when opened and scented with essential oils to help with relaxation and sleep.
BRIGHTER DAY
Jane the Creative Director of Brighter Day is another woman you need to meet. Her colourful, comfortable and innovative fashion brand is making women feel beautiful, to be seen and to feel supported during extremely difficult times in their lives and she is on a mood-boosting mission.
Choosing what to wear each day is a challenge for so many of us but imagine if you had to think about easy access for medical treatments and tests, clothing that doesn’t have metal so that it is suitable to wear during MRI and CT scans, is made from a breathable fabric and looked great too - sounds nearly impossible right?
“After starting cancer treatment in 2017, trying to access the veins in my arms became so difficult and painful, I had a surgery to put a chest port in. Now it’s so much easier to have my IV treatment through the chest port, however I was struggling to find the right clothing to wear that was comfortable and had a wide enough neckline. I searched online for months to try to find clothing that was suited specifically for this access need, and I couldn’t find anything in Australia. I have discovered that adaptive fashion is relatively new here and I am so thrilled to be designing clothing for people with different needs”.
Jane’s message is clear “Ideally, I would love for people who wear my garments to feel like they’re getting a big hug from me. To know that I’m with you because I’ve been you, and I still am”.
MY MEDICAL ORGANISER
Vicki is the Founder of My Medical Organiser a business she started because she needed to find a solution for managing the paperwork and information for all the medical and therapy appointments she attends with her family.
As a mum of two girls with added needs she has firsthand experience managing the huge juggle of this important and time-consuming part of their lives. Having lots of paperwork is hard to avoid when you have a huge list of appointments to attend, hospital stays, surgery, tests and therapy. How do you stay on top of it all -referrals, prescriptions, pathology forms, medical information?
“I designed the My Medical Organiser because I wanted something that I would be happy to take to an appointment, something that supported our needs before, during and after our appointments”.
The specialty organisers bring pops of colour, practicality, and organisation to your appointments. It gives you a feeling of confidence because you have quick access to valuable information about your health as well as questions you have been waiting to ask. By using the organiser greater independence is possible and hand over of care is also easier. The brand has now grown to include Professional Organising to bring calmness and organisation into homes for people who need someone to focus on areas they are struggling to stay on top of. With of course special experience in helping those with health or disability challenges.
All these brands are bringing an uplifting, colourful, caring and informative approach to many lives. Their brands are inspiring and motivating others to take charge of their health and those they care for. Making them a wonderful choice when ‘finding the right gift’.
Time to get shopping!