reprinted from AWE, Alberta Women’s Entrepreneurs, Profiles of Success
It all started with an ear infection. During weekly breakfasts between three best friends, Nancy Scott discussed how concerned she was with her child’s recurring ear problems. “Because the health care providers didn’t have my son’s health records at the emergency or walk- in clinics, he would often be prescribed antibiotics that hadn’t worked in the past,” said Nancy Scott. “As a result, my son suffered much too long and his body was exposed to unnecessary antibiotics. I quickly realized this was something I could prevent if I kept a record of his medication.” And so the Healthpod Baby was born.
“We kept looking for a product somewhere that kept our babies important information together,” said Jana Sinclair, co-founder of the Healthpod Baby. “We figured if we had a need for a journal to track our baby’s growth and medical history, other parents must have a need for it as well.”
Working with a team of over 20 healthcare providers including doctors, nurses, chiropractors, dentists, surgeons and naturopaths, the ladies of b.l.i.s. (Because Life Is Special) created the Healthpod Baby.
Launched in June 2006, the Healthpod Baby is available online, at 40 retailers across Canada and eight countries worldwide. This handy zip-shut binder keeps your baby’s health information in one place. With a patented sturdy nylon cover that can be wiped free of crumbs and juice, it’s chock full of insight & direction on the inside pages to keep parents organized as babies grow. Parents no longer have to remember every detail of their child’s health history as a record of every shot, sniffle, fever, earache and antibiotic is conveniently contained within the pages of the Healthpod Baby.
b.l.i.s. also spoke to over 200 parents while designing the Healthpod Baby. Their feedback was clear: parents wanted a sturdy binder that could be tossed into a diaper bag, zips up so nothing is lost, has lots of pockets to store information and is durable enough to last a child’s lifetime. To meet parent’s needs, the ladies of b.l.i.s. had the binder custom-made.
“We wanted to make sure that people could really trust the Healthpod Baby,” said Marci Andrews, co-founder. “This consultation process took a year to complete but was an essential step to ensure an excellent product – we had done the thinking for the parents, all they had to do was fill it in.”
AWE helped b.l.i.s. fill in their business plan to take the Healthpod Baby from idea to reality. “Our relationship with AWE has been very important to the growth of our business, both in the creation of the business plan and in financing our start-up,” said Marci. Jana adds that, “We definitely would have struggled without their help and still seek their advice.”
There’s not so much struggling going on now. Retailers are eager to carry the product and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. “I can’t live without this,” and “Best baby gift I’ve ever received,” are a sample of the raves about the Healthpod Baby.
The b.l.i.s. ladies will attest that balancing family, careers and a new business venture has been challenging. But as their business grows, so do they. “Sometimes you have to give things up to achieve work and life balance,” said Jana. “It’s given us such a feeling of accomplishment to see this idea go from concept to creation.”
The HealthPod Baby continues to see success and is sure to save the sanity of many parents for years to come. In the spring of 2009, it was named one of the top ten essential pregnancy products by Disney Family, the only Canadian product to make this prestigious list. In addition, Marci was recently named one of Calgary’s “Top 40 under 40” for the success of the HealthPod.