| If you (or your parents) are incontinent, you know it's a | | | | water from somewhere else). You're more likely to |
| lifestyle issue that's as human as it is embarrassing. | | | | handle your own ironing than go to the dry cleaners. |
| Our mass media don't talk about incontinence other | | | | For budget reasons, you may be re-using, rather than |
| than as a punchline to a snide joke at the expense of | | | | disposing of, all kinds of products. |
| older people. But incontinence can be a problem at any | | | | At up to a dollar per diaper, and a diaper for each use, |
| age. The good news is that there are solutions. Now | | | | you can pay hundreds of dollars per month for |
| washable diapers are on the way back as a solution | | | | disposable diapers. Washing diapers instead of |
| to adult incontinence, one that fits the realities of our | | | | throwing them away is simply smart budgeting. |
| times. | | | | What about hygiene? If you're an incontinent adult or |
| Up until recently most adults with incontinence, or those | | | | caring for one, you know that the reality of disposable |
| who cared for them, chose the standard-issue | | | | products is very different from what the happy, brightly |
| "modern" solution: expensive, environmentally unsound | | | | lit commercials tell us. |
| disposable adult diapers. | | | | You may think of "hygiene" as an odor-free world. But |
| This is not surprising. America is a culture obsessed | | | | disposables only deliver on that promise if you're willing |
| with both hygiene and convenience, and for many | | | | to take out the trash with every use. Otherwise, you |
| years we even confused the two. You consider any | | | | still have a diaper pale. You just call it the trash can. |
| petrochemical or gizmo to be "cleaner" than | | | | Of course, that definition of "hygiene" has nothing to do |
| alternatives; then just in case, you throw it away after | | | | with health. |
| one use. Powerful interests nurture that national | | | | In terms of real health concerns, plastic diapers have |
| neurosis to generate huge profits. But you accept the | | | | one nasty feature cloth diapers don't: skin breakdown. |
| throwaway society at a price, both monetary and | | | | Sores and diaper rash are common with disposable |
| environmental. | | | | products. As adults learn more about caring for their |
| Today we face new realities. We are living longer, and | | | | parents, they are turning to cloth products as a better |
| want our independence for a longer time. Home health | | | | care alternative for their loved ones. |
| care is more and more difficult to come by, and for | | | | Finally, washable diapers are environmentally friendly; |
| those who are not entirely independent, more and | | | | more than 3.8 million disposable diapers end up in |
| more often, care is the duty of a family member, not a | | | | landfills every year. Increasingly Americans are learning |
| health professional. | | | | to "reduce, re-use, recycle," and washable diapers |
| The family budget is strained today as never before. | | | | provide better care to you or your parents, while |
| You're more likely to refill that water bottle with tap | | | | leaving a better world for your children. |
| water than buy a case of "spring water" (often tap | | | | |