Design Students Reimagine HME Products

Students in the California State University Long Beach (CSULB) Industrial Design program submitted their redesigned mobility and home medical products last month for a competition sponsored by Mobül: the home mobility store in Long Beach, California. As promised in last month’s issue (read the article here), HomeCare is back with the winning projects—well, sort of. The prototype images remain the intellectual property of the students, but we can share that first place went to Sheila Pancani in the bath safety category; second place to Cynthia Chen for a PERS product; and third place to Paul Suteu for an ADL. “They all took a really innovative approach to standard products,” says Joanne Ratner, vice president, Mobül. “There has already been some interest, on the part of one of our judges, in bringing several of the projects to market, which is obviously a super exciting opportunity for the students.” Mobül, the largest home medical equipment store in Southern California, funded the award and partnered with CSULB because, “this industry needs new, more contemporary designs and who better to explore that than our neighboring students in the Industrial Design Department.” Nineteen students spent five weeks reimagining and designing a host of products after visiting and touring the Mobül store with founder and CEO Wayne Slavitt. “The projects were really impressive and the awards event was really lovely. I think we may have inspired some of the students to pursue this area of design, and I doubt it was even on their radar prior to this experience,” says Ratner. In addition to cash prizes, Mobül arranges for the winner to meet with manufacturers to learn firsthand how a product design is brought to market. We hear there’s been some interest on the part of judges to bring a few of the products to life, and we’re looking forward to seeing them hit the market one day soon!