Newspaper Article

[Guest guest]

Here is an interesting article that appeared in the Naples Daily News

for a hygiene product designed for Developmentally Disabled Individuals.

 

NAPLES — Paul and Debbie Wulf swear they’re not germaphobes.

 

They don’t wear rubber gloves when they leave the house, nor do they scrub their

hands until they’re raw.

 

But as the former owners of a group home business for developmentally disabled

adults, the Wulfs learned the importance of proper hygiene. After developing a

line of CD and animated DVD tutorials over the last few years, Paul and Debbie

Wulf are now trying to make teaching proper hygiene into their livelihood.

 

The Wulfs first started running their group home while living in Wisconsin in

the mid-1990s, taking care of as many as three developmentally disabled adults

at a time, they said. The adults they cared for, all females ranging in age from

18 to 70, had autism and Down syndrome, which left them functional children.

 

The couple eventually moved to Golden Gate Estates in 2001 and continued the

business there.

 

“The biggest obstacle facing us was how to get the concept of proper hygiene

across to them so they would do it when we weren’t around,” Debbie Wulf, 48,

said. The residents the Wulfs cared for needed constant instructions whenever it

was time to brush their teeth, wash their hands, bathe or shower.

 

Debbie Wulf said she had to sit with the female residents in the bathroom every

night while they showered, instructing them to soap up, wash their hair and

rinse. If she didn’t, they would not wash.

 

“They would just stand in the shower,” Debbie Wulf said. “They would do nothing,

absolutely nothing.”

 

It was a 2001 car accident that changed the way the Wulfs managed their

business, and eventually lead to the creation of their hygiene tutorials —

called Hygien-E after their genie-themed marketing materials.

 

Laid up after the accident, Debbie Wulf realized she wouldn’t be able to sit in

the bathroom with the “girls” when they showered. Of course, Paul couldn’t

either.

 

“We had to come up with something,” Debbie Wulf said. “I said, ‘Why don’t we

just make a tape. I know what to say.’ ”

 

Debbie Wulf recorded her instructions on a blank cassette tape, which they

played for the residents while they showered. Not only did the residents follow

the instructions on the tape, but they interacted with the tapes just as if

Debbie Wulf was in the bathroom with them, the Wulfs said.

 

Eventually they realized the residents who used the tapes learned the washing

motions better because the instructions were exactly the same each time. Some of

the residents’ family members commented on their improved skills as well, Paul

Wulf, 49, said.

 

“A light bulb went off and we went ‘Wow,’ ” he said.

 

Shortly after creating the showering tape, the Wulfs created a tape for hand

washing, they said. Within six months they developed a tape on brushing teeth as

well.

 

The biggest benefit of the residents’ improved hygiene was their improved

health, the Wulfs said. Residents who got sick and had to go to the doctor every

month before the tutorials only went once or twice a year afterward.

 

After ending their group home business in 2004, the Wulfs decided to

mass-produce the tapes, eventually creating CD and animated DVD tutorials. But

at that time they had no experience writing a business plan or bringing a new

product to market.

 

A chance encounter with a student from International College (now Hodges

University) eventually led the Wulfs to Gene Landrum, a marketing professor at

the university and high-tech start-up specialist.

 

“I have a developmentally disabled son,” Landrum said. “What they were showing

me and what they were doing, I could relate to the problem.”

 

Landrum helped the Wulfs write a business plan.

 

He said there is a “pretty big potential market” for Hygien-E. The Wulfs’

problem, Landrum said, is that their potential customers aren’t aware that the

tutorials exist.

 

“They don’t know he’s got them, and he doesn’t know where they are,” Landrum

said.

 

The Wulfs sell their Hygien-E tutorials through their Web site,

www.hygien-e.com.

 

They currently sell CD and DVD tutorials on hand washing, teeth brushing,

bathing, showering and table manners for $19.95 each. A complete Hygien-E set,

including Hygien-E picture books and a board game, sells for $125.

 

Besides developmentally disabled adults, the Wulfs also believe there is a

market for Hygien-E tutorials with parents of small children. Paul Wulf, who is

also a licensed Fealtor, said he hopes to one day be able to make Hygien-E his

full time occupation.

 

“This is what I want to do,” he said. “If I could stop doing real estate today,

I’d stop doing real estate today. I’d like to see a hygiene revolution in this

country.”