Changing the World, One Button at a Time with Robert Bolen

Show Notes

Who needs the bells and whistles when inventor, Robert Bolen is changing the world with a button? In our latest episode, we chatted about the Button Helper, Robert’s groundbreaking tool designed to empower differently abled individuals to dress themselves with dignity, ease, and independence.

Changing the World, One Button at a Time with Robert Bolen

Episode Transcript

Lindsay Clarke:

Hi, everyone. Welcome to This is Growing old, the podcast all about the common human experience of aging. My name is Lindsay Clark and I’m the senior vice president of health education and advocacy at the Alliance for Aging Research. So who needs the bells and whistles when inventor Robert Bolen is changing the world with a button? Created as a teenager to help restore the independence of a friend, the Hutton Helper has empowered thousands of older adults, veterans, and differently abled individuals to dress themselves with dignity and ease. As the Button Helper continues to enhance lives across the country, Robert is proving that the most enduring innovations aren’t always complicated. They just make life easier. So, Robert, thank you so much for joining us today to chat about your innovative device, the Button Helper.

Robert Bolen:

Thank you. I’m very happy to be here.

Lindsay Clarke:

So if you would start us off and just tell us about your background and what led you to develop the button helper.

Robert Bolen:

So I was in high school and a friend of mine with cerebral palsy was having trouble dressing himself. He switched from a public to a private school and the new school had a dress code. And so he had an option between either dressing himself in sweatpants and a sweatshirt or having his mother dress him every day at that very crucial age, which created a lot of dependence anxiety. So I invented Button Helper, which allowed him to dress himself in the school dress code every morning.

Robert Bolen:

And then a couple years after that, I partnered with MedStar Neurology to do a pilot program at Kensington Park Senior Living. From there, we worked with Sunovion Pharmaceuticals and the Parkinson’s Foundation to distribute 25,000 boxes at over 160 events across the United States. Just after that, I worked with Zappo’s Adaptive and launched on their website and we were blessed to sell out in five days. They ended up buying our entire warehouse worth, and when we were looking at the best options going forward, we decided to actually start from scratch and create a new version with the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Lindsay Clarke:

That is amazing. Not only what you did with your friend, but that you ran with it to help other people. And I know the whole point of it is that it’s super simple. But would you mind giving us a quick demo?

Robert Bolen:

Yeah.

Lindsay Clarke:

So those of you who are joining us by podcast and can’t see, it’s essentially … Can I describe it as like a snap behind the button? So it looks like a button down, but it opens like a snap magnetic closure?

Robert Bolen:

Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Clarke:

So incredibly simple.

Robert Bolen:

It was actually called Snap Button Helper early on, but we just shorten the name because you can make it bigger on packaging if it’s only two words.

Lindsay Clarke:

Love it. Well, so you talked about your partnership with the US Department of Veterans Affairs to co-develop that latest version. So you talked about the name evolving, how has the Button Helper evolved from the previous iterations? How has it changed over time?

Robert Bolen:

So Button Helper remained the same for the first eight years. It’s this very durable, very strong magnet that attaches to existing shirt buttons. And we took it the Department of Veterans Affairs, their Hunter Holmes-McGuire Polytrauma Center, which is where veterans are sent when they come back from abroad and have severe trauma. And so we worked hand in hand with the team there, Melissa Oliver, who’s the director of occupational therapy and her colleagues to make it thinner, lighter and stronger. So it uses about 40% less plastic, it weighs next to nothing. And the old version looked like a button and the new version doesn’t really look like anything. I think it’s a little bit hard to tell that I’m wearing a special device on my shirt now as we speak.

Robert Bolen:

So we created a new version of the product that had a lot of improvements, and we also created written instructions for veterans who don’t have access to reliable, fast internet to watch our videos. And that was a huge hit. That was all the idea of the team in Richmond. And it’s worked out very well. Through our partnership with Pisces Healthcare Solutions, we’re in 1,243 VA hospitals and healthcare centers as well as over a dozen DOD bases.

Lindsay Clarke:

So clearly the response has been pretty amazing. So what inspires you to keep going? And what do you think is next for Button Helper?

Robert Bolen:

What inspires me to keep going is just stories about patient experiences. I have a very good friend whose close childhood friend was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and he’s about 45 years old. Well, 45 at the time, 46 now. And we were talking about the return to work and how stressed he was to go back in the office and be with people who may notice that he shakes. And that was one component of the disease, but of course the other component is the changing clothes. And so I dropped off maybe a dozen or so boxes at his house and he was able to outfit all of his shirts with Button Helper. And he went back to the office with the rest of his coworkers no problem. Didn’t feel self-conscious and is able to dress himself for work every day, undress at night.

Robert Bolen:

And on the side, his daughter’s at an age where she wanted to start doing daddy-daughter dances, which have of course a dress code. And so he was surprised and thrilled that he’s able to do is with her. And that’s been a big part of his life. And so it’s just stories like that. Hearing about people whose lives have improved through the product, as well as stories of people whose lives would’ve improved. I just came back from a fishing trip and a friend, Maureen, her father was diagnosed Parkinson’s at an early age. And sadly, I didn’t know her at the time. Wasn’t able to get her a Button Helper. So hearing about the struggles he had with dressing himself, that’s something that pushes me forward to work harder, make a better product, get it to more people.

Robert Bolen:

And part of getting it to more people, Jen Mulligan, incredible, brilliant, charismatic CFO of HHS from 2017 to 2021 actually came aboard this morning on the board of advisors. So that was about an hour before this Zoom. I’m pretty excited about that. And she’s going to help us steer it toward nonprofits that have major events and work very closely with patients who have specific conditions from Bike MS to the ALS Association, to even very small, but critical events like the New England Parkinson’s Ride. We want to be anywhere that people with a movement disorder or memory challenge are meeting with care partners. And so I think this will be an incredible new push that’ll expand our footprint far beyond veterans.

Lindsay Clarke:

Well, congratulations. I think that’s just a testament to what an important resource this is. And I think people really understand that part of aging with dignity and living with disease is being able to maintain independence and this plays an important role and people are recognizing that, so congrats.

Robert Bolen:

Thank you.

Lindsay Clarke:

Tell me, you said you sent a couple boxes to your friend. Is it pretty easy to put these on our shirts if we need to? How do you sort of outfit an existing shirt with them?

Robert Bolen:

So they just snap right over existing shirt buttons. It takes about 20 seconds for the first button, because you’re trying to get the hang of it. And after that it’s about nine seconds a button. And once they’re on the shirt, they stay with the shirt. I had some on my shirt for about eight years and then sadly, I ripped the sleeve of this shirt, which had nothing to do with the buttons, but they last for a very long time. Washer, dryer, active sports, just kind of wherever you’re wearing a shirt with buttons, Button Helper is going to stay on. It’s not going to be the part of your clothing that fails first.

Lindsay Clarke:

So if anyone listening wants to get some Button Helpers, either for themselves or maybe we have some organizations interested and they want to learn about disseminating them to their audiences, how can they reach out and get some?

Robert Bolen:

So people who individually would like Button Helper, if you’ve served, you can get it through any VA hospital healthcare center clinic. Pisces Healthcare is onboarded at all of them. If you are not a veteran and you’d like to get Button Helper, we don’t do individual orders right now, we’re prioritizing large batch orders. But if you work with an organization or a pharmaceutical company that would like to sponsor and order for an organization, like Sonovion did for the Parkinson’s Foundation, shoot me an email, [email protected].

Lindsay Clarke:

Great. And yeah, if individuals are looking and think about the organizations that they’re affiliated with, maybe they can reach out. And not only can you get yourself some, but that can help to get them to others who might need them.

Robert Bolen:

Absolutely.

Lindsay Clarke:

So I love it. So before we turn to our sort of closing questions that we ask everyone, anything else? I know our listeners are going to be really inspired by your story because you looked and you saw a need and then you just ran with it and you’re just making sure that you can help as many people as possible. But I want to make sure that we featured everything. Is there anything, any sort of closing words on Button Helper that we should share?

Robert Bolen:

No, I think we’ve been pretty good about covering the bases.

Lindsay Clarke:

Okay. Well then let’s turn to those closing questions that we like to ask all of our podcast guests. And the first is, when you were a kid, what did you imagine that growing older would be like?

Robert Bolen:

I guess taking on more independence and responsibility. And so I was thinking about things like having a family or working at a nine to five, getting a really good education. So just kind of the typical cartoon adult stuff, and most of that’s been true. I didn’t end up working at nine to five, but that’s fine. I like my job. I work a few more hours than that, but yeah. So just kind of what you see on TV, the taking on more responsibility.

Lindsay Clarke:

Well, and interesting that you mentioned the independence because that is such an important piece. So it makes sense to see what you’re doing now. And so what do you look forward to most about growing older?

Robert Bolen:

Probably learning more about myself. I played a lot of sports growing up, but I never took the plunge for rowing, which is very popular sport in DC. And I walked to the gym every day, along the Potomac River, and I see all the people out there having … Some are having a great time and some are absolutely miserable, but they’re all rowing those little carbon fiber boats.

Robert Bolen:

And so I thought early this summer, it might be a lot of fun to try something like that. And so I signed up for an introduction to rowing class with a bunch of other adults, and now I’m out there three to five days a week, first thing in the morning, trying not to capsize. I’ve also taken up bridge earlier this year. It’s things I never would’ve imagined doing when I was younger, just because you’ve got more time to figure out what’s fun. And some things are duds. You try a new activity, it’s not great. I was horrible at archery. I tried that last year, but it’s about finding a number of new things and seeing what can make your life better or what might not be needed.

Lindsay Clarke:

Yeah. I think that’s really fun way to look at it. Always looking for something new to try, new adventures. That’s fantastic. Well, thank you Robert so much for joining us and thank you to our audience for watching for listening to This is Growing Old. If you’re enjoying the show, please subscribe wherever you get your podcast, and everyone have a fabulous day. Thank you.

Robert Bolen:

Thank you.