Paralyzed Veterans of America

Thank you to all serving our country both past and present, who risk their freedom and safety so that we may have ours.

Welcome to Hygienicare         

We are closed pending availability of financing options and hope that we can resume production sometime in the future.

New larger bathroom with a swivel sink which can be rotated to the user regardless of size. Access with a single transfer from a wheelchair or by using a floor or ceiling mounted lift system.

Another model features direct patient transfer from the hospital bed into the HygienicareBathroom using a swiveling hospital bed. This eliminates multiple transfers to and from a wheelchair or overhead lift system, bed and bathroom. With a pushbutton electric swivel attached to one leg of the hospital bed and three legs with casters, the hospital bed combined with a Hygienicare accessible bathroom provides unprecedented efficiency and safety for both caregiver and family member or personnel and client.

Is This A Good Idea Or Not? You Be The Judge from the Founder and CEO, who welcomes your questions and comments.

New Life Portable and Permanent All-In-One Bathrooms

The New Life All-In-One Bathroom--a self-contained, free standing bathroom for portable or permanent installation--anywhere that is accessible by wheelchair, up to 100 feet from interior or exterior connections. The Hygienicare™ New Life All-In-One Bathroom with vacuum formed ABS thermoplastic construction and a welded aluminum frame is strong and durable. New features include a sliding curvilinear door, SaniFlow power discharge macerating system, available tankless electric water heater, overhead and handheld shower and an optional Brondell bidet personal wash.

Only the Hygienicare™ All-In-One Single Transfer System provides a smooth transfer from wheelchair onto a seat with an integrated ADA-compliant toilet, easy reach lavatory and shower. The unified All-In-One Bathroom--elegant in simplicity--yet functional and versatile incorporates an entire bathroom and shower into one easily installed  unit, just 34" wide x 5' long x 5' high. Direct shipment to customer for installation into an existing home or home addition.  Also available in the Garage-It Portable Mini-RV 65 and Mini-RV 98 Travel-Able Bathrooms.

Priced $10,000 Below MSRP: 2006 Independence 26' RV Trailer

Oak Cabinets, Large Pantry. Queen Size Kraftmatic Adjustable bed. Fully Accessible Design, Including Ramp and All-In-One Bathroom w/Shower. 3' x 6' Slide Extension, Electric leveling system.
Featured in video below, contact us here.

Is This A Good Idea or Not? You Be The Judge

In March 2003, Jerald Skinner had an idea while trying to design a bathroom for an R/V (recreational vehicle.) This was no ordinary bathroom. It was an idea for a disability bathroom accessible from a wheelchair. The bathroom was the size of a tub which is generally five feet in length and less than three feet in width. This bathroom was different because it had to be accessible from a wheelchair, provide a toilet, an accessible sink and shower, consolidated into a compact area, and portable if possible. Once the design was drawn with a bench seat for the toilet, a corner sink and an overhead shower, the next problem was how to access the bathroom from a wheelchair and not have the door in the way. Instead of swinging the door in or out which would inhibit the disabled individual from accessing the bathroom, the door was designed to rotate upward and out of the way.

At the time Jerald Skinner was engaged in building disability homes throughout the nation. These homes were constructed off site at a modular plant in Watertown, SD. He had designed over 30 single-family and multifamily accessible floor plans which were constructed over a period of five years in multiple states. One particular home built in Flint, MI., was for an individual who is paraplegic and required a caregiver to assist getting him up in the morning and putting him to bed at night. While Mike never complained, he did admit that he was always waiting for his caregiver, frustrated that he couldn't get going on his own. The home built for Mike was different. It provided him with an accessible bathroom, kitchen and was ramped to provide easy access using a wheelchair. It also was equipped with an overhead Sure Hands lift system with infrared remote controls that gave him the freedom to do everything for himself without a caregiver.

Mike was lucky, because he had an insurance company that realized the huge savings they would benefit from purchasing a home properly equipped for his independence. Today, because of his fully accessible home, Mike is able to activate his remote-controlled lift to his bedside, where he gets into the lift and goes to his bathroom to take care of his hygienic needs by himself. He then can access his closet for his clothes, dress himself, and with a light breakfast is off in his specially equipped wheelchair-ready van. Mike has been able to remain entirely independent of a caregiver for more than five years since acquiring his home properly outfitted for disability. Free at last and totally independent.

For the majority of people with a disability, money is not available to build a home. Many are living in older homes that would require the mechanical systems to be retrofitted to meet current codes if they were to be remodeled for accessibility. The costs of retrofitting, in addition to accessibility modifications can be prohibitive. Others live in rental properties for which landlords may not be willing or able to pay for remodeling/conversion for disability access. Unless they have a family or professional caregiver who can be there and meet their needs on a daily basis, many are institutionalized at great expense to Medicaid/Medicare, their families or other health providers.

The data collected in the last U.S Census indicate over 30 million Americans with a physical or mental disability. The statistics show an additional 3 million Americans are disabled annually. Over the next decade, baby boomers will add another 70 million.

Jerald Skinner recognized from discussions with life care planners, doctors and other professionals, that building new homes for people with disabilities would be prohibitive in cost and limited in attainable volumes compared with the vast needs of the physically disabled. Home additions were also looked at as a possible way to provide care facilities attached to a home either temporarily or permanently. This was a slow process, navigating local jurisdictions' inspection departments with multiple code adoptions, subdivision restrictions and exemptions, which often eliminated any exterior changes to a home. Again the strategy could not meet the huge need for appropriate, timely and cost-effective housing for the disabled and their families.

By 2006 it was determined that the original All-In-One disability bathroom with the upward rotating door had too many mechanical components that could increase maintenance during the product lifetime. Total re-evaluation of the previous design led to the bathroom concept of 2004 using a curvilinear sliding door, then selected for development. By January 2007 the process of refining the design and developing the new molds was begun. Since that time, two portable / permanent All-In-One disability bathrooms have been developed which are now called the New Life portable disability bathrooms. Water cooled aluminum production molds have been completed, and all that remains to complete the manufacturing process are the vacuumed parts holding molds for the CNC computer-controlled trimming machine. With this equipment a single eight hour shift should produce 100 bathrooms per day.

The New Life portable disability bathrooms are unique. The smallest version is 5 feet in length by 5 feet in height and 34 inches in width. The larger family version is 6 feet 7 inches in length by 6 feet 4 inches in height by 34 inches in width. It has a swivel sink which allows an individual as small as a child, or as large as a 7 ft. tall 500 pound adult to easily access all fixtures. This extended version provides a standing shower area for those disabled who can stand for limited periods of time. Those with good upper body strength who can transfer from the wheelchair to the bathroom, will find that a direct transfer from their hospital bed to the bathroom and back can now be accomplished with a newly designed bed track system. This means that day or night the disabled individual does not have to leave the bed and get into a wheelchair or a lift in order to get to the bathroom, but rather the bed moves to the proper location, approximately seven feet for transfer into the bathroom.

What makes the New Life portable disability bathroom portable is the Saniflo macerating toilet and shower / sink macerating pumps, which as disposals grind up the waste, paper and water into a slurry, which is pumped under pressure through a one inch PVC pipe, up to 100 feet to a standpipe or sewer connection. The New Life is also installable on concrete floors above or below grade, because there are no penetrating utilities through the floor. As a total portable system all utility connections can be made from exterior sources. The New Life portable disability bathroom can also be installed in an exterior location in suitable climates.

Because the New Life portable disability bathroom occupies less than 15 sq. feet of space, and because it is designed from multiple ABS thermoplastic components, locating the bathroom within existing homes is easy and location is flexible. Because of the design of the New Life portable disability bathroom, remodeling costs are dramatically reduced if not eliminated, because the bathroom is totally enclosed and self-supporting, requiring no walls, or wall finishing. Because of the New Life portable or permanent all in one disability bathroom's design, it can be integrated into small "Garage-It" total care facilities. They incorporate the New Life disability bathroom, hospital bed and lift system when necessary. These portable total care facilities are generally a compact 100 square foot facility, temporarily installed in the attached home garage.

Due to recent liquidity problems in the financial markets, Hygienicare is unable to sustain present operations with available funds. We were to begin limited production of the Hygienicare™ New Life portable/permanent all in one disability bath August 1st, 2007, but loan equities supported by real estate have declined with recent market events. Jerald Skinner, the founder of Hygienicare is seeking responsible parties that are interested in disability products who can provide through their personal resources, companies or foundations, grants, loans, partnerships or purchase of the Company. Hygienicare is a privately funded company and is not looking for public investment in the purchase of stock.

Turtle Homes Rescue, an International Turtle Adoption Organization, finding homes for turtles and tortoises