10 minute read
Cover story
from DC_Midweek_081722
by Shaw Media
COVER STORY BROWSING, BUYING BETTER
Softly helps online shoppers find cruelty-free products, founder says
By CAMDEN LAZENBY
clazenby@s
GENOA – Softly, a Genoa-based startup, is creating a Google Chrome browser extension to make it easier for consumers to identify low carbon, organic or cruelty-free products while shopping online.
“It’s really all about product transparency and making it easier for people to know what’s in the products that they buy,” said co-founder and CEO of Softly, Mollie Hughes.
Softly is trying to lower the intention gap between what consumers want in products and what they end up doing. While many people might be drawn to products that don’t have ingredients that may be harmful to them or the environment, it takes time to research the manufacturing process and components of a product. This effort inevitably limits how many conscious decisions a consumer will make, Hughes said. So she developed an online tool to help.
“So when we were looking into doing this as a business, we would read all these studies and see all these statistics,” Hughes said. “It’s kind of like, well, ‘I want to eat better and go on a diet and work out everyday’ but you don’t do it. But when it comes to products, what is it? Does it cost that much more? And we kind of found it’s not that. It’s just that it’s not easy.”
To help shoppers who might want to be more intentional with the types of products they buy, Hughes and her business partner Kathryn Decker – co-founder, chief financial officer and chief operating officer – set out to create a platform that makes it easier to identify products and their origins.
Softly is a digital browser extension for Google Chrome that allows shoppers to be given suggestions for alternatives to the product they’re looking at. If a consumer has searched online for a product and Softly has identified alternatives that fit the criteria the shopper is looking for, a Softly tab on the right side of the browser window will flash.
The browser extension allows consumers to identify products that have a low carbon footprint, that use fair labor practices, if it’s made locally or if the item has allergens or harmful chemicals. Hughes said as the service is expanded, users will be able to filter products in greater detail.
At the moment, the browser extension only works for online retailer Amazon and is in beta testing. Hughes said, however, those who are interested in the service can apply to be a beta tester by signing up on Softly’s website.
Softly’s next steps include expanding its operations on Target’s website in the coming months, Hughes said.
Hughes also is focused on soliciting area talent as her startup grows. Softly has recruited students from Northern Illinois University to create an online presence for the company to attract mindful consumers. Alexis Trevino, a senior studying marketing at NIU, is one of two interns the company employed this summer.
“It’s kind of hard to start shopping sustainably and living more eco-friendly when you don’t know where to start,” Trevino said. “And a lot of people don’t want to start because of the time that goes into researching reliable products. They don’t know what brands they can trust and things like that.”
Trevino said Softly fills an existing gap for consumers, especially relevant as online shopping popularity soars.
“And there’s not really any program out there that exists like Softly where you can do it so quickly and so easily and not have to put in time and research and looking up different brands and things like that,” Trevino said.
Before interning for Softly, Trevino said she didn’t think about being sustainable in her everyday life because she assumed it would be too hard, especially as a full-time university student. She said her work with Softly, however, helped ease that burden of doing her own research on products.
Softly does not allow any advertising for products to affect which items show up first in its tab. Hughes said if the company ever does go to that method for generating revenue it would only be very select products that qualify for the privilege. To create a profit the company currently uses affiliate marketing, meaning if a consumer buys a product suggested to them by Softly, the company gets a small commission for the transaction.
“And that’s a very small commission,” Hughes said. “It’s not much, but our whole thought on this is, alone you’re not going to change the world, you’re not going to make, you know, that huge of a difference. But if each us just do a little bit better, if you have lots of people doing a little bit better, that’s where you make big change.”
Camden Lazenby – clazenby@shawmedia.com Mollie Hughes, the CEO and co-founder of Softly explains on Friday, Aug. 12, how her company will help consumers make conscious shopping decisions.
Alexis Trevino, Softly intern
DeKalb hospital addresses nursing shortage
By SHANE TAYLOR
staylor@shawmedia.com
DeKALB – In an attempt to combat existing workforce shortages, Northwestern Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb is piloting a program that brings back a familiar staffer to health care life: a licensed practical nurse.
If successful, the program could be expanded, hospital officials said. The program is the health system’s way of bringing back licensed practical nurses – at one point a staple used in hospital settings as a way to provide support for licensed registered nurses, who traditionally receive more training than an LPN – to help offset a growing need for labor.
The licensed practical nurses will work under the watchful guidance of a registered nurse to meet the hospital’s health care worker needs. LPNs perform basic patient care tasks and help to keep patients comfortable.
“The licensed practical nurse model has been in existence for years,” said Corinne Haviley, chief nurse executive at Kishwaukee Hospital. “Typically what these nurses do once they graduate is they go to extended care facilities, nursing home type environments.”
Now, the health system is recruiting those nurses to DeKalb.
According to the Illinois Nursing Workforce Center, LPNs more frequently practice at nursing and residential care facilities. In Illinois, as of 2021, 51% of LPNs practice in long-term care, rehabilitation or assisted living, 16% are in outpatient settings, 10% are in home health and 3% are school nurses.
Data collected by the workforce center that surveyed LPNs from Nov. 8, 2020, to Feb. 1, 2021, shows an average salary range for Illinois nurses is $25,000 to $55,000. According to the survey findings, 48% of LPNs received a community college education.
“The pendulum is swinging again and bringing them back into acute care hospitals, which is what were considered,” Haviley said. “Licensed practical nurses have a certain level where they can do very specific things.”
LPNs complete a one-year training program, often through community colleges, and must pass the National Licensure Examination (NCLEX-PN). They are skilled at day-to-day care for patients, including recording vitals, monitoring patient status, changing wound dressings, giving most medications, helping to feed, bathe and dress, and making patients more comfortable.
A job description from Northwestern Medicine asks that applicants are experienced in clinic and nursing care, and works under the direction of physicians or RNs, to treat and evaluate patients, while maintaining standards of practical nursing practice mandated by the American Nursing Association.
“We are looking at a lot of different ways to make it a more wellness enhanced environment for our staff,”
Mark Busch – mbusch@shawmedia.com Dani Witkowski (from left) registered nurse and nursing manager, talks to Kellie Armstrong, registered nurse, Sarah Lyons, registered nurse, Breann Aubry, registered nurse, and Corinne Haviley, chief nursing executive, Tuesday, July 26, at Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb.
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Mark Busch – mbusch@shawmedia.com Breann Aubry, a registered nurse, pulls the IV stand as she walks with a patient Tuesday, July 26, at Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb.
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Continued from page 7
said Dani Witkowski, patient care manager at Kishwaukee Hospital.
Witkowski said working in a hospital setting can appeal to LPNs.
“A lot of nurses, they want the opportunity to be here, that they’re licensed practical, but they’ve been in that role in extended care facilities for so long,” she said. “This gives them the opportunity to get a taste for this and work at their top of their license.”
The pilot program is still evolving, Haviley said.
“It’s not something that every hospital is doing, but it’s something exciting for us because it is a big change,” Haviley said. “Again, it’s a pilot, so we’re trialing different types of models with the LPN as apart of the work that we are focused on.
“It’s an exciting opportunity for all of us, for all types of nurses.”
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