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Jul 31, 2023

The Perfect Patient in Midland, Dallas offers care package services

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The Janie bag from The Perfect Patient.

The Perfect Pack-O-Potential from The Perfect Patient.

The perfect prolouge

When Janie — daughter of close friend Jessica Pierce — received a brain tumor diagnosis, Beth Harris started thinking of what to send to show her love and support. Yet, instead of flowers or balloons or a card, Harris turned toward her experience as a children's speech-language pathologist. With the help of fellow Midlander Jennifer Yeager, Harris created a goodie bag filled with hands-on activities meant to help time pass positively for both Janie and the rest of the Pierce family.

The next day, Harris founded The Perfect Patient, a care package company focused on providing intentional and interactive items backed by joy for children and families experiencing hospital stays or medical events. Not only passionate about the project but a first-hand witness of the businesses impact, Jessica Pierce joined her friend's partnership. The trio added Abby Christensen to seal the deal, and a dream team came to fruition. TPP launched on March 23 and has been making moves since then.

The perfect pack

Two already-made bags, The Janie and The John (both named after children undergoing treatment), provide the basis, but what exactly comes in a Perfect Patient care package, and how does it benefit everyone involved? Based on their own personal and professional experiences, the four-woman crew came up with the following.

Notepad and pen: "For parents, being in the hospital and not having something to write on is very stressful," Harris explained. "You always need to write notes or questions for the doctor."

Response card: "When you're in the hospital and you receive gifts, it's like, ‘OK, I want to send a thank you note, but out of sight out of mind.’ So, every package has a stamped card that can also just be sent to a friend to say, ‘This is how I'm feeling,’" Harris said.

Miniature coloring roll, card games, memory games, puzzles and more: "A lot of these things serve as really great distractions while parents are talking to a nurse or a doctor, and it's also something a child life specialist could say, ‘Hey, it's OK you're getting an IV,’ and then can pull something out to distract them. Everything is really used to facilitate fine motor skills and language because you can play with parents, siblings, friends who visit or even by yourself."

Add-on options include a Lego set called The Perfect Pack-O-Potential, a jewelry making Bead Kit, a (very cozy) Sweatshirt Blanket, a TPP ball cap, and a matching set of bracelets (collaboration with Happy Magnolias).

All items can be ordered at www.theperfectpatient.com.

The perfect patient

Although Harris and her crew market toward kids dealing with health problems, the entrepreneur said their kits have been sent to an array of recipients.

"They’ve been sent to a couple of 60-year-old men recovering from accidents, my mom is in a nursing home, and she received a blanket, they’ve been sent to children grieving the loss of a loved one, and they’ve also been sent in celebration, like being cancer-free," Harris said. "While it seems like it should be a kid bag, everything in there is engaging and entertaining and a nice alternative to flowers and candy."

Since the company's online opening, they’ve worked with hospitals throughout the state, created partnerships and are continuing to change lives. As for the future, the squad has started creating a tween/teen focused bag, an adult bag and more.

Don't know who to send a package to? No worries! Click on "A Kit to a Kid" on the TPP website and the group will handle it for you. (www.theperfectpatient.com).

The perfect people

If you aren't convinced already that The Perfect Patient is a business you absolutely should support, then let me give you four more reasons: Beth, Abby, Jennifer and Jessica.

For this team, TPP is not about the money or how aesthetically pleasing they can create a gift bag. For this team, the true purpose and passion comes from helping those in need, especially children. With all four women carrying the title of "Mom," Beth, Abby, Jennifer and Jessica know what it takes to make a functional world go round, but when you add a hospital stay into the mix, life gets turned upside down. If they can help ease that stress for just one fellow mom, parent, guardian or caretaker, they’ll never quit.

Working out of their four homes (Beth and Abby in Midland, Jessica and Jennifer in Dallas), the group packs, mails (for next-day delivery), markets, develops, creates, preseveres and succeeds. These exceptional women do it all, and without their beaming, bright lights, the world would be a slightly darker place.