Designed by Moms for Moms, New Thermometers Help Out During Cold & Flu Season

(ARA) - If the changes in the seasons have you feeling blue, it might just be that you caught a cold or have the flu. According to health experts, you’re not alone. The common cold is, well, very common. According to some estimates, Americans annually suffer through up to 1 billion colds with children getting about six to ten colds each year. For families with children in school, the number of colds per child can be as high as 12 per year, making the common cold a family affair. Additionally, between 10 and 20 percent of Americans will come down with the flu, requiring more than 110,000 people to be hospitalized each year. Health officials are already issuing warnings that the flu season will be especially nasty this year. Clearly, the arrival of cold and flu season is nothing to sneeze at.

“When someone in the family becomes sick, the first thing we reach for is the fever thermometer,” says Jeff Jacober, chairman of MEDport LLC. “For many parents, getting a sick child to sit still and have their temperature taken is a real struggle.” Noting that cold and flu seasons starts in November and runs through March, Jacober’s company has teamed up with Timex Corporation to help families far and wide cope with the onslaught of numerous bugs and viruses by introducing two next generation fever thermometers -- the Timex Acrobat and the Timex Illuminator fever thermometers.

The design concepts for the Timex thermometers came from three moms in Rhode Island who, like scores of parents, had a hard time getting their young children to put and keep a thermometer under their tongues. The straight rigid oral thermometers the moms had in their medicine cabinets pushed the thermometer’s temperature-taking tip up and around in the mouth. Late one night, using nothing more than a simple roll of tin foil taken from a kitchen drawer, their idea was brought to life -- the world’s first ergonomic oral fever thermometer. Their idea -- curve the design to allow the thermometer’s temperature-taking tip to comfortably rest and stay on the ‘hot spot’ under the tongue -- was both simple and brilliant.

The first thermometer to incorporate the mom’s revolutionary idea was the Timex Accu-Curve digital oral thermometer. “After the Accu-Curve was introduced in stores earlier this year, we sent our moms back to the drawing board, tin foil in hand, and asked them to come up with new designs that recognized that parents have preferences and want choices when it comes to taking their children’s temperatures. Some prefer to take temperatures orally while others may prefer to take temperatures under the arm or in the ear. Depending on a child’s age, rectal may be the best choice,” says Jacober.

The mom’s went back to work and with fellow moms in mind, they came back with the versatile Timex Acrobat. The Acrobat’s temperature-taking tip can be bent and shaped to fit over a person’s lip, delivering a thermometer that is literally customized for every family member. Recording a temperature in only 5 seconds, the Acrobat’s unique innovation allows parents to quickly take a family member’s temperature orally, rectally and/or under the arm.

For families who prefer to take temperatures in an ear, the Timex Illuminator was the mom’s answer. With a swiveled probe that allows the Illuminator to snugly fit into a person’s ear canal, the Illuminator also features a light that helps parents and loved ones effortlessly guide the probe into the ear, making the experience more comfortable and accurate. The Illuminator is exceptionally fast, too. It measures the thermal heat generated by the eardrum and surrounding tissue. To help ensure accuracy, six measurements are taken within one second and the average temperature is displayed.

Mr. Jacober also noted that the Timex thermometers are ideal for seniors who may also have difficulty using traditional straight thermometers. “For someone like my dad who has Parkinson’s and has a hard time keeping the tip of the thermometer in the right place in his mouth, our Timex thermometers are the perfect solution,” says Mr. Jacober. All three thermometers incorporate other beneficial features such as a large easy-to-read display and Indiglo night-light, which allows a person to take a temperature at night without having to turn on a light.

Timex’s Acrobat (Suggested retail price $15.99), Illuminator (Suggested retail price $44.99) and Accu-Curve (Suggested retail price $14.99) are now available for sale at stores throughout the United States, including CVS, Wal-Mart, Stop N Shop and Brooks. More information about the products is available at www.timexhealthcare.com.