Another year, another success at the annual Naidex exhibition. We’ve had plenty of positive feedback to Tenura products; the diverse range we had on display at the exhibition wowed Occupational Therapists and left a lot of satisfied visitors. There’s nothing more we love than hearing about the impact of our products and how they help people in their everyday life.

Occupational Therapists were pleased as they had such a brilliant alternative to Soft PVC products. Tenura is an antimicrobial product that is completely free of Phthalate’s, making it completely non-toxic, safe to use in any environment. Tenura daily living aids can withstand washing in a domestic dishwasher, and are also completely safe to use in Autoclaves for clinical cleaning up to temperatures of 250oC.

Tenura daily living aids are made from 100% Silicone, the reason they can withstand these high temperatures and more importantly being free of toxins. One significant factor you should take into account when using Tenura is making sure the product is on a dry surface and also the product itself is dry. For example, when using a Tenura Cupcap make sure the cup is dry and also the Cupcap has no liquid or moisture on it before or during application.

There is a new addition to our line of products on the website; Tenura Cupcaps are useful for people with muscle tremors or an unsteady grip to be able to use cups and glasses without spillages. This self-sealing cap will stretch to fit over the top of a cup, glass or beaker of your choice, with a purpose made eyelet to allow a straw to enter for drinking. This will prevent spills even if the cup or glass is knocked over, as a result protecting carpets, clothes and furnishings.

Tenura Cupcaps are made from our 100% non-toxic, durable, antimicrobial silicone, ensuring they are completely safe for the user, and dishwasher friendly.

Tenura Cup Caps can also help with the preservation of freshness for longer than an uncovered drink, slowing down the effects of external temperatures to keep it cooler, for longer. Furthermore, they help to keep dust and other contaminants out.

This product is useful for both domestic and clinical use and available for sale in a pack of two cup caps, one measuring 80mm and the other 60mm in diameter.

Visit the page to purchase or alternatively contact us for more information.

 

That time of year has arrived again were we head over to the NEC, Birmingham for the annual Naidex Exhibition. This will be taking place from 29th April – 1st May 2014 and it is the UK’s largest disability, rehabilitation and homecare event. Thousands of Occupational Therapist professionals will gather as over 300 exhibitors featuring the most recent products, innovations and even services to aid independent living.

Not only do you get the chance to discover the latest products, you can engage and network with the Independent Living Sectors leading industry. What is more appealing than conducting direct sales and developing rewarding sales deals that you wouldn’t find anywhere else?

Our aims are to generate new friendships and business opportunities as well rekindling connections with old associates. We will be displaying an array of Tenura products, make sure to pick up a free sample pack from our stand. Come chat to our knowledgeable and enthusiastic repre­sen­ta­tives.

We have been exhibiting at Naidex for a couple of years now and it just gets better each year. If you can make it to this year’s exhibition at the NEC, make sure you come see us. We will be situated at Stand C47, don’t miss out on such a remarkable opportunity. We would love to see you all there!

This year we head over to Baltimore, Maryland, for the 94th annual AOTA conference & expo. From April the 3rd until the 6th, thousands of OT professionals and businesses will descend upon Maryland to create a massive conference and expo that is the largest of the year in Occupational Therapy, and a chance to learn new advancements, and even old ones, as well as personal progression are all available to everyone who attends, with the opportunity to forge new friendships, and strengthen old acquaintances.

The program guide you receive upon entry will keep you informed of all the events that are on during the course of the expo, including but not limited to Tech Day, Fitness Sessions, International Breakfast and the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture.

We will be there to not only meet new people, and see some old acquaintances, but to inform as many people as we can about our new products, latest innovations and of course introduce our daily living aids to a new audience.

An opportunity to venture in to the wonderful city of Baltimore is there too, which has been advised to do if you can drag yourself away from the large-scale expo. With local landmarks such as Fort Henry, the Inner Harbor and the National Aquarium amongst others, it would be silly to miss such an opportunity.

So pack your bags and jump on the plane, and we shall see you there!

Another year has past, and we will soon be welcoming another New Year.

For Tenura, it has been another year of great development, and we would like to thank you all for helping us get to this point.

We will halt all retail operations on the 24th of December, and we re-open on the 2nd January. Any orders made in between these times will be fulfilled from the 2nd of January onwards.

To make up for this, we are offering a 15% discount on all orders with the code ‘FESTIVE15′. Perhaps you could pick up a late Christmas present for yourself or a loved one?

From all of us at Tenura, have a happy Christmas, and we wish you all the best for the New Year!

One of our most popular products in the Tenura range is the Anti –Slip Aqua Safe bath strips and discs. These products are a very simple, very subtle and a very effective solution for helping the prevention of slips and falls in baths, showers and wet rooms. The surface of the product is designed to have exceptional grip when the product is wet but also to not be too abrasive on bare skin and cause skin irritation. The design also makes the product very easy to clean and will not harbor bacteria. This makes them far more effective than rubber bath mats.

One thing I would like to touch on in this Blog is the correct application method for applying the Aqua Safe stickers, due to questions raised by customers, on a weekly basis.

The adhesive sticker on the back of the product will only stick to a completely dry surface. Otherwise the stickers will peel up after a couple of rinses. We suggest wiping the shower surface down with an alcohol based cleaner to remove any moisture or residue that may be on the bottom of the tray. We only recommend alcohol based cleaners, as using cream based cleaners leave a residue which will contaminate the adhesive, causing it to fail.

If they applied correctly the Strips or Discs are guaranteed for up to 5 years.  There is no set way to apply the stickers but you can download our suggested application template for the Aqua Safe stickers from these links:

• Discs
• Strips

A couple months ago we provided sample packs of Tenura products to different Occupational Therapists around the country. We wanted to get an honest opinion of our products from professionals. The feedback we received has been great and a lot of the Occupational Therapists who received sample packs and have spoken to at exhibitions now recommend Tenura products to their clients.

Recently we have received photographs from the Merlin Centre in Cornwall. Their experts provide a range of care, support and therapies to improve the lives of people with Multiple Sclerosis and other neurological conditions. Not only do they help the individuals effected, but they help their families and the people who care for them too.

The people there have been finding new ways to use Tenura at the day centre. One of the exercises they have been doing helps rehabilitate people to allow them to walk freely again. This has included the application of our Aqua Safe, anti slip stickers on a wooden walk way. This not only aids grip, but assists with co-ordination too, as the contrast of the white stickers on brown wooden flooring makes a clear visual target for people to place their feet.

This is not the only exercise being implemented at the Merlin Centre that features Tenura products, but we hope to embellish on those in another blog post.

If you have any interesting ways of using our bathroom stickers, aside from their intended use, please let us know, we would love to hear from you.

We have recently added one of our new products to the site for general sale; anti slip cutlery grips are a great way for people with strength impairments to their grip to be able to continue daily tasks with smaller handheld items, such as cutlery, pens, pencils, toothbrushes and more!

Tenura anti slip cutlery grips are made from our 100% non toxic silicone, moulded in to a large, tapered cylindrical shape to increase grip whilst lessening strain on muscles and joints, but retaining comfort. The universal insert will conform to any suitable handheld item you insert into it, and will not affect the outside surface.

Anti slip cutlery grips can be used successfully in many environments, including but not limited to domestic, clinical and care, where they have various uses.

Try some of our anti slip cutlery grips today, and let us know what you think!

In this edition of the Tenura Blog, I am going to discuss Latex and Latex Free daily living aids.

When doing some product research, I was intrigued into where latex comes from and why so many people are allergic to latex.

What is Latex?

Latex is a liquid substance that is naturally produced in trees. It acts as the trees natural defence mechanism against insects wanting to nest in its bark. Latex is made up of the tree’s natural oils, starches, sugars, gums, proteins, resins and tannins.

Why Buy Latex Free Daily Living Aids?

Latex is an irritant, which can also be manufactured synthetically. Up to 10% of the population has a reaction to natural rubber Latex and Synthetic Latex. The majority of people who are allergic to latex come out in a rash known as Dermatitis. But it can also affect people in more serious ways.

Latex is found in all rubber products such as rubber gloves, elastic bands, rubber clothing, shoes and baby bottles, to mention but a few. Latex is also found in a lot of daily living aids currently available in the market.

Tenura silicone daily living aids designed for independent living are non-toxic, chemically inert and made entirely from Latex free Silicone. So, there will be no problems for anybody using Tenura products on a regular basis.

Why do People Have Allergic Reactions to Latex?

Latex contains certain allergens that can be found in foods such as bananas, passion fruit and kiwis. With all allergies your body produces antibodies to fight off what it believes to be an infection, the body then releases histamine which, in turn, makes symptoms of allergies start displaying. Symptoms of a latex allergy include; itching, rash, sneezing, wheezing and a scratchy throat. If you believe you have a latex allergy, seek advice from an allergist and avoid contact with latex products until seen.

The Physiotherapy Daily Living Aids Market

We at Tenura are always looking to improve and expand our range of Tenura non-slip products. In the next few months, we will be introducing a few physiotherapy products. Our new daily living aids are in the early stages of development and will be Latex free, we are excited to see how people will benefit from them.

We have noticed from doing product research that within the physiotherapy market there is a surprisingly large amount of Latex equipment out there. We hope that more people can feel the benefit of there being more Latex free options to choose from. The new products, like the rest of the Tenura range, will be Latex-free.

What new products would you like to see introduced to the current Tenura daily living aid range? Let us know via social media, you can find Tenura on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Beings as we haven’t made a blog post in an age, I thought I would delve deep into the recesses of my brain to bring you some updates regarding what has been going on behind the scenes.

As mentioned in our last blog post; Working with OT’s for Innovation in Daily Living Aids, we have been working alongside various occupational therapists to get an outside perspective on current and future products to ensure that our target audience is getting a product that would efficiently assist them in day to day life, and, as we’ve discovered, more! More updates to this will be forthcoming in future blog posts (subscribe to the blog, here), but I can assure you, there have been some excellent discoveries through the use of Tenura daily living aids that you will be able to try in your own home or occupational therapy centre.

You all may have been wondering where our next line of Tenura daily living aids is. I can assure you that they are on their way. You can explore the current range on our website now. I must remain tight-lipped on the new range, as I am not the one who calls the shots on when they are announced (you must ask the organ grinders for that). When they are announced to the public, you will certainly hear about them, and not just from us either, there are a few outside-professionals already in the know, due to tests and feedback to help us develop them. We are very happy with them and should be an astounding evolution in daily living aids.

Is there anything you are hoping to see in the future of low-tech, daily living aids? Please connect with us through our social accounts; Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, we love to hear your thoughts. To stay up to date with Tenura daily living aid releases, subscribe to the blog.

Since the OT exhibition in Glasgow we have been looking at developing some of the newer products in the Tenura range. I have been working alongside Occupational Therapists and asking them;

• How did useful did they find Tenura products?
• What changes to our products could we make so that clients get the most out of our range?
• What other products should we try create and develop?

In the search for answers, we gave a sample of all our products to the Merlin MS Centre in Cornwall.

http://­www.­merlinmscentre.­org.­uk/

The Merlin centre provides a range of expert care, support and therapies to people with Multiple Sclerosis and other neurological conditions.

They have been very helpful in giving us an evaluation of the Tenura range. One person in particular is Kath Smith, who is an Occupational Therapist at The Merlin Centre. Kath mentioned that she found the Tenura products we sent really useful in the centre, and products such as the Tenura Extreme mats in particular have been used not only as mats for trays, but in activities in physiotherapy sessions, more on this soon.

We believe that the best way to develop our range is for us to work directly alongside Occupational Therapists, as their experience and insight will be invaluable in the innovation of current and future Tenura daily living aids.