Today we’d like to introduce you to Doug Thomson.
Hi Doug, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The TinkerZONE™ is the culmination of two lengthy hospitalizations, one as a parent and the other as a patient. After the traumas subsided, a certain melancholy settled over both of us as each day passed. The full effect did not become clear to me until I revisited those events during the global pandemic. I realized that the loss of normalcy, replaced by “hospital time,” was the culprit. It became obvious that a similar cloud of discomfort might affect any child or adult in an institutionalized, long-term recovery program.
Those many weeks of despondency affected me deeply, and became the laboratory to apply my enrichment course development and teaching experience. Assessment, selection, and task design began during those shelter-in-place days of the global pandemic. A working collection of activities was created for field trials from a mobile container. The TinkerZONE™ has since been well-tested with pediatric patients, assisted living and memory care residents, and enrichment pilot programs.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The winding road to TinkerZONE™ really did begin about 70 years ago. My childhood was a product of new and growing neighborhoods in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio in the 1950s and 60s. I rode my bike home for lunch, freely roamed near and far with my next-door friends, and enjoyed toys like Lincoln Logs; Erector sets, Mr. Potato Head, and Lionel model trains. Play was a mixture of discovery and dirt clods with a healthy dose of skin abrasions, iodine, and band-aids. With practice and some supervision, I could make French toast, grilled cheese, tomato soup, and scrambled eggs. More simply stated, I was raised, with love, to be an independent thinker and a curious explorer. A sensory, hands-on childhood established a firm foundation in my life.
My personal road became a highway that emerged with its on and off ramps and rest stops instead of detours. Throughout my scattered decades as a classroom teacher, I have also been able to serve as a professional calligrapher, clay pottery instructor, a custom home and commercial project manager, a landscape designer/installer, an FSLIC Liquidator-in-charge, a commercial real estate broker and asset analyst, and an enrichment curriculum writer/instructor. The uninterrupted continuity through my twisted mix-masters has been cobbled together by my independent curiosity and growth mindset. I submit that our young patients and rehabilitating adults will benefit from similar tinkering experiences.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have learned that many pediatric hospitals have addressed recovery regression by establishing Child Life Services that provide a variety of art, music, and entertainment options for their young patients. The TinkerZONE™ currently offers a dynamic menu of hands-on STEAM-based activities that are administered by trained volunteer on a cafeteria tray. Our delivery system is extremely flexible, welcome conversation naturally occurs, and the 25-to-40-minute sessions are unique exclamation points to every patient’s day.
The TinkerZONE™ is distinctive and unique in the application of its selective activities. Our TinkerTASKS™ are designed to be customizable challenges with levels of difficulty and built-in freshness. They are best served in person by a trained therapist, coordinator, or even a veteran volunteer. We provide side-by-side and video training, internet updates, and a membership into a daily chatroom with new ideas and discoveries. I am proud of this distinction that sets us apart from existing programs that also positions us to meet a broad spectrum of recovering and aging children and adults.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tinkerzone.us
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082183111805
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/the-tinkerzone-group-llc-319854245
Image Credits
The TinkerZONE Group
