By Kristin Danley-Greiner
The Altoona Herald-Mitchellville Index
December 15, 2004

A Runnells woman who has battled Multiple Sclerosis (MS) for the past 16 years serves as the motivating force and inspiration behind a Web-based business owned and operated by her daughter, Runnells native Lisa (Howard) Schmidtke of Minnesota.

Linda Howard of Runnells was in the midst of raising four daughters with her husband, Terry, when she was diagnosed with MS. Schmidtke has watched her mother succumb to the symptoms of MS and felt compelled to do something to help people facing similar challenges in life.

“For many years, my mom sold adaptive equipment and clothing to elderly and disabled people even while battling MS herself. I saw the enjoyment she got out of providing these resources and working with such appreciative people. As her condition grew worse, I saw the challenges and frustration she and my dad endured from the lack of accommodations for people with physical limitations,” Schmidtke said.

“Many funerals, basketball games and church services she’s tried to attend in a ‘handicap accessible’ facility have turned out to be a disaster,” Schmidtke continued. “She has looked for resources on grocery delivery, beauty services and errand services, all with little success. All of this in addition to the ever-confusing Medicare rules makes the life of a physically challenged individual very frustrating.

” While conducting research for her mother, Schmidtke discovered a variety of services offered by non-profit organizations and businesses available in the Twin Cities where she lives. Realizing that not everyone would be aware of these services, she initially created www.abledeluxe.com to “act as a portal to connect these resources to the people that need them, focusing on the Twin Cities to monitor quality assurance.”

“Then when it became difficult for my mom to continue her business selling aids for daily living, I took over her dealership and created an e-bay store ... to sell the products and market the Web site,” Schmidtke said.

Web site launch

It wasn’t until Schmidtke was on maternity leave with her second daughter that she actually put pen to paper and launched a warmly received Web site. Schmidtke knew that a Web site would be the best approach to help serve the elderly and disabled. “I chose to create a virtual business, because I really want to help the elderly and disabled people living in their home who wish to stay in their home. Most of them can’t easily get to a retail location and don’t often have constant care as you would find in a nursing home or assisted living facility,” Schmidtke said.

“I chose to include businesses that deliver groceries, provide chore services and at-home non-medial care, because these services are needed in order for some people to remain in their home and non-profit organizations only provide them if certain criteria are met such as age and income.”

The Web site Schmidtke developed not only appeals to her niche market, but also to caregivers and family members of seniors and disabled individuals.

“Adults over 55 are a fast growing segment of Internet users. Even still, I’ve found that it’s often the caregivers—a family member or close friend--who finds the resources and purchases the products, so I created a Caregivers Corner on the Web site to provide support to them as well,” she said. “Some of the shopping and home services can help busy, working families, many of whom are called upon to take care of an aging parent. My Web site differs from other resource database Web sites in that it’s simple to navigate, has an aesthetically pleasing design and contains for-profit companies.”

Adding on

But Schmidtke didn’t stop there. Armed with a degree in fashion merchandising from Iowa State University and 10 years of retail experience, she decided to add an adaptive clothing line to her online store that would offer easy-to-use, yet stylish, clothing options.

“I found a family-owned company in California that designs and manufactures exactly the line I was looking for and, after visiting them while on vacation, I became a dealer for Finnease adaptive clothing and added their products to my site,” she said.

The dressing kits Schmidtke sells have been quite popular among customers, she noted. The kits contain what’s called a “reacher,” which is a device designed to help people put socks on, as well as a long-handled sponge and a shoe horn.

“The funniest sale was the day I called my husband because I was so excited that I sold an elevated toilet seat,” she said.

Currently, Schmidtke is in the process of establishing protocol for customers seeking gently used daily living products and adaptive clothing.

“This will help buyers who cannot afford new equipment and sellers who may have only used the products for a limited time,” she said.

Not about the money

Anyone who knows Schmidtke and her caring nature knows she did not expand her mother’s business and make the multitude of enhancements to her Web site in an effort to generate a big bottom line. But rather, she did so out of the kindness of her heart fueled from empathy of knowing firsthand how hard it can it be to live with a debilitating disease.

“My goal for the business is to broaden the awareness of the resources available for those limited in mobility and to increase the number of people receiving care in their home and assisted living facilities rather than unnecessarily being moved to a nursing home,” she said. “Personally, I look forward to developing this into a family business and creating a schedule that allows me to spend more quality time with my husband and two girls.”


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