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The Honor Guard, designed by a daughter for her elderly mother, helps maintain privacy during personal care.
By BETH N. GRAY
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 25, 2003
BROOKSVILLE -- Robin Lenart still shudders at the memory of "that horrible hospital gown" she had to wear during a brief hospital stay at age 8.
"I didn't want my backside bare," Lenart said. "I asked Mom to bring me some underwear. She smuggled it in."
Some 30 years later, Lenart has returned the favor.
The former actor and model, who also paints, said her "creative spirit" kicked in when her mother, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, required in-home care that included bathing and toilet assistance.
"I'd hoped I'd never have to help bathe her," said Lenart, 48, explaining that her family always respected each other's privacy. "I never went in the bathroom when she was taking a shower, and she never came in the bathroom when I was taking a shower."
In 1997, Inez Caldwell moved in with her daughter, then living in Stuart. One day in 1998, Lenart returned home to find a crisis.
"Mom had to get in the shower quick," Lenart said. "I grabbed some stuff and pinned it together."
The privacy cover-up that Lenart threw together has become the patented and trademarked Honor Guard -- what Lenart calls "the first garment of its kind to protect modesty" and the keystone of Lenart's fledgling Hernando County company, Personal Care Wear.
So far, it is getting good reviews.
"I think it's incredible," said Jo Cavanaugh of San Diego, a professional caregiver for 25 years and founder of CareSsentials. "What (Lenart has) designed is so easy to use and so inexpensive," said Cavanaugh, whose business coaches caregivers.
CareSsentials is one of several outlets in Lenart's efforts at marketing the 6,000 units that were manufactured under her direction by Merit Apparel Co. of Vero Beach.
The brightly-colored Honor Guard apparel -- in solid hues, florals, faux leopard -- includes top and bottom cover-ups for women, bottom for men, in both "wet" units for the shower and "dry" units for post-shower functions, such as toileting and dressing with personal assistance. All units connect with Velcro that is easy to use for those with limited hand and finger function.
The bottom unit is made of three slightly overlapping panels of fabric, like a loincloth with added side panels that overlay each other in back, all of them attached only at the waist so the panels can be loosely separated. The wearer crimps the waistband closed over his or her undergarments, then removes the undergarments from beneath. The caregiver can wash beneath the privacy panels without the patient being exposed.
"It is the answer to a prayer," said Frank Baldwin of Stuart, whose colon ruptured while he was visiting his daughter in Lake Charles, La. Baldwin had to stay two months with his daughter, who has three children.
Rather than struggle into gym pants, he could wrap on the Honor Guard while still beneath the bedsheets, then get up covered. "That way I could just zip it up and walk around the house completely modest."
Lyn Ulrey of Madison, impaired by a stroke, has been happy during the six months she has been wearing the garment while receiving in-home care from her husband, Charles, and visiting nursing assistants.
The women's top, an elongated bib -- Lenart calls it a "chest shield" -- closes with Velcro at the neck. The back is open, and the arms are free. With the unit in place, a woman's bra can be removed or put on.
"I think it's just as nice as it can be, and I just can't think of words to tell you how I feel," said Ulrey. "It covers what must be covered."
Added Charles Ulrey: "It helps with privacy and security. You're not lying there (in the bathtub) as if you're skinny-dipping."
Mark Warner of Jupiter Farms, who sells the Honor Guard through his online Alzheimer's Store, said he has received lots of positive comments about the garments.
"We call it clothing with dignity," he said.
Warner, an architect, gerontologist and author, specializes in "products that benefit a person's quality of life."
He said that people with progressive dementia often are not comfortable being bathed because they do not recognize the family member performing the hygiene. "They are uncomfortable being naked. Some refuse to be bathed. This allows them to be bathed while clothed, with access to all the private areas."
Lenart avoided the wet T-shirt look by lining the suit's water-repellent fabric with a soft, non-cling mesh. The dry suit, jersey with terry-cloth lining, can be put on over the wet suit, then the wet garment removed with a tug of the Velcro.
After the impromptu construction of the garment on her mother, Lenart experimented with a variety of fabrics, from lace to plastic. Of the final product, Lenart said, "When Mom put it on, she was comfortable, but more important, I was comfortable. Mom wasn't exposed or humiliated."
Caldwell did have one embarrassing episode when she had to be sent to a rehabilitation center. She took her Honor Guard with her, and her daughter explained the garments to a nursing assistant. But when it was time for Caldwell's first shower, that assistant wasn't on duty.
"They hosed her off naked," Lenart recalled. "Her humiliation affected her health."
Inez Caldwell died in 2000, leaving her daughter a modest inheritance, which Lenart tapped to mass-produce her product. "I felt she would be pleased, and it's something to bless her memory, something she started," Lenart explained.
Two years ago, when Lenart set out to market her product, she was told by a nursing home administrator that patients "get used to" being seen naked. She didn't believe it.
At a senior expo sponsored by Eckerd last November in St. Petersburg, Lenart surveyed some 100 attendees and got these responses.
87.8 percent of women and 58.3 percent of men said they would feel uncomfortable having an aide or family member help them in the shower or bathroom.
97.3 percent of women and 75 percent of men said a product that covered their private areas would make a difference.
86.5 percent of women said they would be uncomfortable giving hygienic care to their fathers, while 70.8 percent of men said they would be discomfitted giving such care to their mothers.
Lenart has spread that message wherever she introduces Honor Guard. She spoke at the Medtrade Conference and Exposition in Atlanta in October, and earlier the Florida International Medical Expo in Miami Beach. Her presentations are called "New Choices for Promoting Dignity for Persons with Disabilities" and "Introducing and Promoting Dignity During Assisted Personal Care."
Lenart's product has come to the attention of the National Association of Geriatric Nursing Assistants. Its quarterly magazine for certified nursing assistants, CNA Today, will perform a product review of the Honor Guard and expects to publish the results in its June-July issue, said editor Connie Trendel.
The garments will be sent to several nursing homes, including Evergreen Woods Health and Rehabilitation Center in Spring Hill, for use and comment, Trendel said.
Certified nursing assistants are Lenart's biggest cheerleaders, she says. While some administrators make light of the dignity issue, Lenart says, the nursing staff recognizes the humiliation of nakedness.
Lenart says she has sold "maybe a hundred, maybe a couple hundred" garments thus far. The women's two-piece Honor Guard, either wet or dry, sells for $29.95. The men's unit is $19.95. She has a prototype disposable garment that could sell for as little as a couple of dollars, she said.
Honor Guard is available through Lenart's Web site -- www.personalcarewear.com.- or by calling her company at (352) 544-5078 or by writing to Personal Care Wear at P.O. Box 15451, Brooksville, FL 34604.
The garments were featured on an "In-Home Care" segment on the QVC home shopping channel last June, and they are being considered for sale at Eckerd stores.