ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Two Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) graduates are helping those who are susceptible to heat get a new lease on life.
Ruth Redman of Rochester loves to tend to her garden, but unfortunately, she was limited on how often she could go out.
“The heat is too much for me to bare on a typical summer day,” Redman said. “I have multiple sclerosis and heat intolerance is one of those things that a lot of us deal with. It causes, at least for me, fatigue.”
Redman has a solution.
Right before she begins, she puts on a cooling vest that prevents her from overheating.
“On a warm summer day, I could do activities that I wouldn’t be able to do,” Redman explained. “I would be too exhausted to be able to do them. I would be sitting inside trying to cool off, or doing some other activity. And this and whatever else I do wearing the cooling vest would go undone.”
This cooling vest was designed in Rochester by Kurtis Kracke and Brad Dunn when they were graduate students at RIT.
Kracke says they came up with concept in 2016 after hearing the story of a Webster man who fainted on an 80-degree day because of heat sensitivity from multiple sclerosis.
The invention eventually sparked the creation of their company Thermapparel.
“It helps keep their core body temperature cold so they can go out and enjoy all of those activities that we like to do in Rochester in the summer,” said Kracke. “Because the winters are what they are.”
This is accomplished by placing four cooling packets on the lower back and then the vest goes under your clothes.
Dunn explains ice isn’t used to cool those wearing the vest.
“They are a biodegradable, non-toxic, phase-change material,” said Dunn. “Which is a fancy way of saying they melt and freeze. And what’s unique about our packs is that they melt at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So that keeps your body without being too cold, as it would be if it were an ice pack.”
Since its inception, Thermapparel has sold its cooling vest in 16 countries, but for Kracke and Dunn, the most important thing is being able to help people live comfortably without letting heat get in the way.
“We get these wonderful letters and stories from our customers and we call them ‘now I can’ stories,” said Kracke.
“We hear stories everyday of, ‘I was able to go to my kid's soccer game. I was able to go to the beach for the first time in five years,’” Dunn said. “And those are just really important and profound life things that they would be missing out on otherwise that contribute to making everyone’s life better.”
It makes Redman very thankful that multiple sclerosis doesn’t have to stop her from doing what she loves during the hot summer days.
“I find gardening very soothing and relaxing, even though it’s hard work,” said Redman. “It’s just an opportunity to have some quiet. It’s almost meditative, you know? I can think. I can pray. I can just spend time out here in nature and hear the birds.”
Thermapparel has also launched its #RIPUPMS campaign, encouraging those with multiple sclerosis to write down how the disease has affected their lives, how they overcame it and rip that paper apart.
More on that campaign can be found here.