0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

Develop and Launch New Products and Services ● 135
GREAT
IDEA
Create a Business Based on
a Personal Challenge
When Nellie Sutton was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
disease in 1985, her son Joseph began searching for
a place where she could live safely and comfortably. He visited several nursing
homes and was not about to put his mother in any of them.
So, he rented a ranch-style house and hired a caregiver to take care
of his mother. He found four other Alzheimer’s patients to rent the extra
bedrooms. That’s how his business was born. Sutton has since sold the
business, but his idea still has merit.
“I opened my first home to care for my mother—no other reason,” said
Sutton, who saw an opportunity to care for America’s aging population.
About 30 million Americans have a family member suffering from the
progressive, degenerative disease that affects memory. Many Alzheimer’s
patients require round-the-clock attention and supervision.
Gladys Thankachan, a gerontologist and hospital consultant, said small
units of five to seven residents are more friendly and accommodating than
large institutional facilities for people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s,
who often get confused and agitated. However, she said, independent
“board and care” homes such as Sutton’s can be difficult to regulate. Still,
given the increasing geriatric population, she said, small group homes fill
a need if we “can make sure the standard of care is appropriate.”
By founding a company to provide a safe place for his mother to live,
he’s helped hundreds of other families. Although he is no longer involved,
there are Sutton homes operating privately in Florida.
GREAT
Sell Your Wares in a Farmers’ Market
Americans have been shopping in farmers’ markets
IDEA
for centuries. The first farmers’ market opened
in Alexandria, Virginia, in the 1750s. Today, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture reports there are about 35,000 farmers’ markets across the