A business ‘covering’ patients with love and dignity.
Sestra Care Solutions helps and supports individuals to live with dignity and independence. Their products are specifically designed to help individuals (and their carers) adapt to new lifestyle needs and are used when conventional clothing and items don't provide the desired outcome. Adina’s vision is to help people to be as independent as possible and stand beside them to assist wherever may be needed.
Where it all began
Originally from Germany, Adina worked in Home Services and continued her care and support of our aging population when she moved to Australia. Coming from a poor family, sewing was always a part of Adina’s childhood, her sister was an avid dress maker and sewing had remained Adina’s hobby while she was getting to know the aged care system here in the western suburbs of Adelaide.
Adina has worked with aged people of all different backgrounds, some bed ridden with great difficulties being dressed to the point of pain relief needing to be administered. Not having grandparents around her, she valued her clients' history and stories greatly and her thoughts were tuned in to how to provide a better quality of care for the ‘adopted’ older people in her life.
And so, Sestra Care Solutions was born. Sestra means sister, nurse, friend. Adina wants to be a sister to those in pain, to help alleviate it as well as honour her own late sister.
2014 was a turning point for Adina when she had a student carer become distraught at seeing someone in pain whilst dressing them. He expressed his disbelief that there wasn’t clothing appropriate for people with that level of pain. His reaction triggered Adina to start experimenting with clothing designs as well as researching what else was available on the market.
All she could find was an American company that designed clothing with studs and velco, items that she knew could cause injury and pain. Every button, stud, label, non-stretchy fabric or seam is potentially a wound.
The only other option was oversized clothing that is cut up the back to be put on like an apron. This option does not last as they are getting washed 3-4 times a week owing to incontinence and bathing.
Adina was spurred on to create her own designs knowing that clothing means so much to person and can be tied in with identity, a sense of wellbeing, the ability to interact with others and maintain quality of life. Clothes that cover at the back make people feel more human and less like a patient in their own homes.
The designs are not 'just a t-shirt', the items give people living in pain, comfort and security to know they won’t be embarrassed in public or in front of carers. Those carers then have a failsafe way of dressing their patient to not hurt them.
Adina’s clothing line really is the perfect practical gift instead of flowers and chocolates that sometimes just can’t be enjoyed.
Getting closer to the vision
Not knowing who would bring her designs to life, Adina started the hunt for a manufacturer and she was successful in finding an Australian based company who unfortunately didn't match her dream product. Sadly, the first set back occurred and the items that came back were entirely unsuitable, costing her a lot of money.
With the conviction that elderly people in pain needed her items she was unwavering in her hunt for a new manufacturer. She knew someone was out there who could provide a quality produce and she found one, a family business in Vietnam.
Adina took a risk and invest the time to travelled to Vietnam and meet the business who she was delighted to find understood design, production as well as importing and exporting. To seal the deal she discovered that they had a daughter who was studying and living in Adelaide! Adina was able to overcome language hurdles through the daughter and work with a quality manufacturer who made exactly what she asked for.
COIVD-19 and Council support
Pre-Covid, Adina was beginning to think about arranging home parties for people who were in home care to display her clothing and skin care range. A pampering session would have been fantastic for people who couldn’t get out much.
This would have gone ahead before Covid popped up and staying away from the sick and elderly became mandated.
After several set backs and then successes, she realised her website was the next challenge to tackle. She had a website but it wasn't functioning and the student help she received hadn't quite fixed the issues which seemed insurmountable.
Adina was directed to her local council for help, became part of our Western Business Leaders group and applied for a Business Support Grant where she connected with Business Advisor, Urszula Richards, who was instrumental in paving a way out of the website pickle she found herself in. Here's how:
Like many business owners, Adina’s website was a constant source of worry and frustration to her, as she was initially constrained by budget and understanding all the ins and outs of the technology. There really is a lot to learn, and many well-meaning helpers are not necessarily experienced web developers. When Adina came to meet with me, she had decided that she needed to rebuild her website on the Shopify platform - something which would have been a much more expensive exercise than simply fixing what was wrong on her existing website.
I was able to refer Adina to someone who specialised in the website platform that her existing website was on. This allowed the fixing process to begin. Technical and structural changes ie. the navigation, language and layout was optimised, as well as fixing other 'under the hood' site problems. Adina now continues to have regular training sessions where the site gets optimised incrementally, and she is able to address her most pressing issue with the website each time. It is a much more manageable way of learning, while also making sure the ‘invisibles’ are fixed over time.
Adina has said many times how much more confident she now feels that she has someone professional helping her with her website and has expressed that she feel ready to move onto more strategic areas of her business now that this time and money drain is taken care of.
- Urszula Richards, Business Marketing Advisor
Why City of Charles Sturt and what's next?
Adina loves doing business in this area because it's local to her. She lives here and it's where she got her business idea.
She feels confident and supported. Engaged with relevant support services empowered her to make decisions and make chooses to continue to build up her business through the tough times.
She was put in contact with another marketing expert in Charles Sturt and did some simple SEO checks which helped a lot.
Adina knows there is opportunity to expand her business & potentially branch out with a children’s line. She knows that education is ongoing with carers and with the aged care profession about improving the way we care for our aging family members.
Word about her business is gradually getting out there. Three larger stores have picked up her line & she has added other items to her product line which she sees will continue to evolve.
Her amazing range can be found via her website.
Business tips
- Growing a business is a process, its work and lost of learning along the way.
- Not many can do it on their own. You need support and help to keep going.
- You can be helped by students but complex issues sometimes it's not as time and cost-effective as you may think. Being supported by professionals is growing on knowledge and learned experience. Being able to correctly identify the areas of challenge needs that experience.
- It is your personal growth as a business owner that add to the growth of your business.
- Don’t be intimidated by professionals. If their service is not correct for your business, speak up. You are paying for the accurate portrayal of your product.
- If you are working in aged care you need to have a heart and it’s not all about the bottom line.
- Sometimes there is a fine line between a charity and a business.
Adina Wiens – Sestra Care Solutions
Phone: 0449755754
Email: adina@sestracare.com.au
Website: https://sestracare.com.au
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sestracare