Fredericton Entrepreneurs Launch New And Improved Sleep Kit
FREDERICTON — Two years after launching The Sleep Kit, the bedtime routine in a box for dementia patients, co-owner and founder Eve Baird is ready to make some changes to her company and creation.
One of the most recent changes has been welcoming Baird’s long-time friend and business partner, Adrienne McNair, to the company.
“Adrienne and I have been friends for a long time and we also work together. She’s really passionate about working with people living with dementia,” said Baird.
RELATED: How The Sleep Kit Could Help People With Dementia Get A Better Night’s Sleep
McNair, who has experience working with the Alzheimer’s Society of New Brunswick and the York Care Centre in Fredericton, said she was part of Baird’s research group when creating The Sleep Kit in 2019. She thought it was a neat idea then and continues to think so now.
“I was partnered with someone who was living with dementia and I saw firsthand the incredible effects of The Sleep Kit,” said McNair. The person I worked with was nonverbal, but there was one evening where they had said a word, which usually they wouldn’t speak at all.”
“Just seeing it happen in real-time was so incredible and powerful.”
With the help of her new business partner, Baird says there have been some updates to the kit. Now, customers can customize their own kits, order refills on products like lotion and even order the box of products in French. She and McNair said it’s to be more “person-centred.”
“It’s inclusive in the way that someone who may not have the resources necessary to afford the larger kit can still give it a try,” said McNair. “We thought about broadening the market because sleep is important to everyone and there’s always new research coming out with how sleep can affect mental health, so … we wanted it to be a tool that can be used to connect people together.”
But even though the pair wish to appeal to a wider market, they still want the products inside the kits to be “dementia-inclusive.” Those include adult colouring books with less intricate designs, a large deck of playing cards and a wooden hairbrush, which is more recognizable to older adults.
Since launching the kit as a student at St. Thomas University, Baird said she has noticed interest has skyrocketed, most notably through adult day programs in Ontario. The Alzheimers Society also has the kits and so does the Fredericton Public Library, which can be loaned out.
“With the pandemic, I think it’s revealed a lot of the challenges in long term care and The Sleep Kit is a person-centered approach to care,” said Baird. “There’s a lot of older people who are isolated right now, so this is just another opportunity for self-care.”
Baird said she has really enjoyed the progress she has made with The Sleep Kit so far, and with McNair by her side, the pair are ready to tackle what the future has in store for them.
For Baird, she wants to do more outreach and develop a marketing strategy that sees the company go out in the community.
“We’ve talked about travelling to long term care homes and potentially going to the North Side Market,” said Baird. “There are a lot of people who know someone living with dementia, so being able to talk to them and show them a different resource that’s available is wonderful.”
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Aaron Sousa is a summer intern for Huddle. Send him story suggestions: [email protected].