Industry’s First “Body Data Assistant” Helps Caregivers Manage Schedules
For Immediate Release
April 20, 2010
Mom-founded company introduces solution to track and recall medication, feeding, sleeping routines
Richmond, VA – A new time management tool — one that helps families monitor babies’ or homebound individual’s schedules and communicate with caregivers and doctors — will soon be available from new Virginia BioTechnology Research Park tenant ChicksWithKidz™.
The bizzyBee™ for infants and MedAware Pro for seniors, are the industry’s first body data assistants (BDA) that record, recall and remind caregivers of a week’s worth of medications, sleep and feeding schedules, as well as other items yet to be announced. This helps to minimize stress and maximize safety when managing multiple caregivers and a variety of scheduled activities.
Designed by two moms, the bizzyBee responds to the concerns of parents and children from all walks of life — from working moms and dads to busy adults caring for their declining parents with an army of at-home caregivers.
“All caregivers face similar challenges when it comes to caring for a loved one and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the details,” said Kirsten Knull, co-founder of ChicksWithKidz. “We created the bizzyBee/MedAware Pro to easily track, record and store data crucial to a person’s wellness. And it makes it easier than ever for family at a distance to stay in tune with what’s happening while they’re away.”
Knull and her co-founder, Katie West, drew from care-giving challenges they had faced in their own lives, in addition to feedback from families and hospitals, during the research and development process of bizzyBee and MedAware Pro.
Alarm Function and Data Recall
Both bizzyBee/MedAware Pro feature three separate modes to easily monitor medication, sleep and feeding schedules. To ensure medications are received on time, every time, the bizzyBee is equipped with alarms to alert caregivers when a medication is due. Invaluable to parents of chronically ill infants, or babies on intermittent doses of antibiotics, the bizzyBee allows parents to enter and track the names and dosing times for up to six medications. Similarly, MedAware Pro can also track, record and chart medication dosing schedules in a portable, easy to use hand-held device.
Programmed to remember a baby’s activity for up to one week, the bizzyBee also helps monitor and establish routines for feedings and sleep patterns. This improves communication between families and caregiver, and helps set, track and maintain routines while away. For long-term monitoring, the collected data can be uploaded from the device to a computer to view trends and share information with a physician. Additional items, such as height, weight and therapy notes, are also easy to include in a personalized diary.
The bizzyBee/MedAware Pro is phthalate-free and comes in packaging formulated from recyclable materials. The bizzyBee weighs just 6.5 ounces and conveniently clips to a diaper bag or a parent’s belt. It comes encased in a variety of colored elastomeric housings that are not only top-rack dishwasher safe, but also serve to reflect the owner’s personal style, while protecting the device.
The bizzyBee/MedAware Pro have a retail price of $149.95. Pending continued development and guidance through their experience with the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park, ChicksWithKidz hopes to release the devices in the fall of 2010.
About ChicksWithKidz: Founded in 2007 by two moms, ChicksWithKidz is focused on making caregivers’ lives easier and helping to assure the health and safety of infants and seniors while under the care of others. With this in mind, ChicksWithKidz developed the bizzyBee Baby Data Assistant to help caregivers remember, track and recall complicated medication, feeding and sleep schedules. Dedicated to providing easy-to-use and reliable products for families, the bizzyBee/MedAware Pro is an invaluable resource for working parents, parents of sick children, and adults caring for sick parents who need to stay up to speed on their daily routines. www.chickswithkidz.com
About the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park: The Virginia BioTechnology Research Park is currently home to a unique mix of more than 59 public and private bioscience companies, research institutes affiliated with the VCU Medical Center, and major state and national medical laboratories. These companies are housed in nine buildings totaling more than 1.1 million square feet of space, representing an employee base that exceeds 2,000. The Park’s Biosciences Commercialization Center has been created to take incubator graduates through commercialization to M&A or IPO, giving the Park’s tenants full-scale business assistance. The Commercialization Center is now the home of eight companies from the Israeli life science community and continues to expand its resource base. It has created alliances with leading incubators in Israel. To date, the Park’s incubator and commercialization center have graduated three companies that are now publicly traded. www.vabiotech.com
Contact:
Courtney L. Skunda
Virginia BioTechnology Research Park
Phone: (804) 827-2137
E-mail: cskunda@vabiotech.com
Web site: www.vabiotech.com
