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Company: Freedom Dynamics, Naples
Principal: Eryk Hardwick
The big idea: Eryk Hardwick, a Naples-based remodeling contractor, was working for an elderly client who complained about being unable to use his walker to get onto the beach. That's when he developed the first prototype of Stability Steps, skids that attach to the legs of a walker so elderly and disabled people can enjoy the beach without getting stuck in the sand.
Hardwick started developing his product in 2009 and was recently awarded a patent. “It's been a chore just to get a patent. I went through three different attorneys,” says Hardwick, who estimates he spent about $27,000 on that effort.
Hardwick, a single dad, says the fittings are adjustable so that they can fit various heights and different models. “I had to figure out how to make it adjustable for all walkers and easy to store,” he says, noting that walkers are tricky because their legs aren't parallel.
Fact is, wheelchairs designed for the beach are bulky and have to be transported with a pickup truck. By contrast, walkers with Hardwick's aluminum skids are lightweight to carry and easy to transport by car.
Hardwick says he plans to make a future model with hard plastic and rubber skids so that users can move freely from outdoors to indoors without leaving scratch marks. The walker could be used on other surfaces too, such as snow.
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