- Tell us something about yourself, your background
Tivon Sinclair Jeffers is an Help Desk Analyst, IT Consultant & Implementation Specialist at hospitals and medical centers nationwide – most currently at Columbia Presbyterian. He has years of design and fabrication experience. Prior to DiviDiaper, Tivon founded and managed his own music production company.
LisaRoxanne Walters-Jeffers is an attorney with several years experience in the practice and education of IP, Entrepreneurship & Corporate Governance. She is a Law & Business professor, & seasonal educator at NYU Medical School. She also is a performing artist, and director/producer.
The two have been married since 2010 and share four children, including their youngest who was the inspiration for DiviDiaper.
- Can you tell us about the product you invented with a brief explanation
DiviDiaper™ – patents pending – a diaper that separates urine from fecal matter, and separates both from a catheter or suprapubic tube, thereby reducing/eliminating diaper rash, catheter infection, infectious bedsores, fungal infections and similar conditions
- How/Why did you start inventing. What set you off?
When our youngest son needed a series of urological surgeries from ages one through three, we were faced with many serious concerns about recovery, dangers, side effects, infections, successful outcomes and the like. We never imagined that our single biggest challenge would be diapering. Post-surgical diapering was a rudimentary process that entailed cutting a hole in one diaper for a catheter tube and then layering another diaper over that. This resulted in the diaper “guts” spilling out. Because of the absorbent filling spillage, bulkiness, and one diaper unfastening against the other, this process often failed at its main purpose – the prevention of infection.
- How did you get from idea to finished product?
Necessity being the mother – and father – of invention, we set out to design a better diaper, and DiviDiaper™ was born. We created prototypes with Tivon first sketching potential designs and LisaRoxanne assembling the prototypes through various means, including handsewn and using heat and nonwoven adhesives to duplicate the factory hotmelt process. We numbered each iteration and tested it on our son, until we got to the most effective prototype. After presenting that prototype to our son’s surgeon, renowned pediatric urologist Dr. Dix Poppas, he instructed his staff to use DiviDiaper™ prototypes on our son instead of their usual brand. He said “it’s just a better diaper to keep stool from extending to urinary and reproductive tracts [and] makes good sense.” Soon after, Carlos Richer, leading diaper expert and consultant of over 35 years, inspired us to make adult prototypes. Health care providers in the adult/geriatric industry – including a leading Associate of the Continuing Care Leadership Coalition – have opined that DiviDiaper™ would be revolutionary in reducing rashes, potentially fatal infections in incontinent and catheterised adults, and even provide ancillary relief for bed sores.
- Let us know of useful resources that helped you
We watched a lot of YouTube videos on how nonwoven material is created and how diapers are manufactured. We also attended some INDA (Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry) workshops. Perhaps more importantly we observed our son, and LisaRoxanne has cared for immediate family members that were incontinent and using catheters, colostomy bags, etc.; and Tivon worked in hospitals maintaining sanitary conditions for similar patients.
- Social media and website links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dividiaper/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dividiaper
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divi.diaper/?hl=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dividiaper-inc-49a622162
Website: www.dividiaper.com
— End of Interview —
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