Reduced Infant Mortality
As a neonatal nurse in the 1980s, Sharon Rogone and her colleagues often had to resize and make products that could fit the tiny babies in their care. Rogone's first invention, the Bili-Bonnet, was a creation to protect babies' eyes when they underwent phototherapy for jaundice treatment. Prior to Rogone's invention, doctors would use various haphazard methods to shield babies' eyes. While the Bili-Bonnet eventually became a soft cap with a piece of molded foam held in place with Velcro, the prototype started with a construction-paper mask Rogone created.
"We would sneak into nursing conferences and pass out our samples," Rogone said. Within a few years, the masks were mass marketed.
Rogone also invented the Cuddle Buns Diapers. If a diaper is too big, the infant's hips can develop abnormally, requiring physical therapy before he or she can learn to walk. Rogone's diaper design addresses that problem with a narrow, non-expanding crotch.
Rogone's experiences prompted her, with just $2,000 in start-up funds, to become a businesswoman in 1981. Today her company, Small Beginnings Inc., boasts $1 million in annual sales to medical suppliers worldwide. Small Beginnings manufactures specialized products that enhance the health of premature infants while helping to reduce their lengthy (and costly) hospital stays.
Rogone's many inventions and accomplishments earned a place in the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
Want to Read More?
- Fighting for Life
- The Growing Child
- Healthy Babies: A Volume Devoted to the Health of the Expecting Mother and the Care and Welfare of the Child
- Healthy Children: A Volume Devoted to the Health of Growing Child
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