Inexpensive New Product Reduces the Stigma of Walkers for Seniors
Funwalkers License Plates encourage seniors to make more use of walkers & rollators by reducing the stigma and embarrassment often associated with them.
Press Release (ePRNews.com) - NEW YORK - Jun 13, 2017 - New York, NY – Funwalkers is a new product that aims to encourage seniors to make more use of their walkers by reducing the stigma associated with their use.
“I jokingly offered to decorate a dear friend’s walker so it would be cool,” Funwalkers founder B.L. Ochman says. “But I couldn’t find fun accessories like streamers, mud flaps, turn signals and so on for walkers. And that’s when the idea for Funwalkers.com hit me.”
Ochman was inspired to create Funwalkers.com when her 94 year-old friend fell, broke her hip and had to use a walker. “She was frustrated and embarrassed by her lack of independent mobility,” Ochman says. “The walker was a visible sign of her fragility. She didn’t want to be seen in public with it, and insisted she “would never take her walker to the ballet or the opera.”
Exchanging stigma for smiles
Funwalkers are colorful, 3 x 6″ license plates that attach to walkers, rollators and scooters with humorous sayings like, “Yes, it was a skydiving accident,” “Caution: dances on tables,” “Gray Pride”, “Graduated without wikipedia” and “I brake for animals.”
But the serious side of Funwalkers — and perhaps their real value — is that they help take away embarrassment too often felt by increasingly fragile seniors at risk of falling.
And seniors are precisely who experts say are most in need of walkers to prevent falls that are the leading cause of injury, hospitalization and death for people over 65 according to the CDC.
The intent of Funwalkers is simple. Ochman hopes they will bring smiles to those who use them and everyone who sees them – and encourage seniors to use their walkers. “My friend chose a Funwalkers license plate that says ‘Act My Age? Why?!’ and says it starts conversations everywhere she goes.”
Funwalkers are $21.95, available in six colors, with more than 30 light-hearted sayings and $24.95 for custom sayings. They’re made in America and available at Funwalkers.com.
B.L. Ochman is an accomplished digital communications professional. She is producer and co-host of award-winning Beyond Social Media Show (http://beyondsocialmediashow.com) and publisher of What’s Next Blog. (http://whatsnextblog.com) Her previous entrepreneurial ventures include the Rent- a-Kvetch complaint handling service. She lives and works in New York City, where she is the human companion of Benny Bix Ochman Labradoodle.
Contact:
B.L. Ochman
Founder, Funwalkers.com
917-566-5855
BL@Funwalkers.com
