Twenty Five Years And Counting...

 

Twenty five years today since I sold Carroll Healthcare. Do I miss it? I guess in some ways. It was more than a job to me for 20 years or so and it employed good workers to build innovative new products for an old, stagnant  market. Nursing home furniture was always just a hand-me-down, version of outdated and obsolete hospital equipment. In order to flourish, I knew my company had to innovate and produce new and exciting ways to attract customers away from the traditional suppliers. 

We put wheels on the back legs of cabinets to allow movement for cleaning while the front legs provided stability. We pioneered washable, removable and interchangeable drawers and rounded corners on all furniture. Our early manual beds were innovative in that they required no cranking to effortlessly position the head end of the bed and our composite mattress decks promoted easy cleaning and never rusted.

It was actually fun to go to work knowing I had a whole factory to use as an experimental lab to develop products that made life better in institutions for the aged. Although the company was swallowed up eventually by big American business, I still have the memories of taking on Goliath and winning during my tenure. To me, that was success.

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