Advice From Your Advocates
Advice From Your Advocates
Building Connection Through Creativity: Subscription Boxes for Dementia Care
In this episode of Advice From Your Advocates, Attorney Bob Mannor interviews Reagan Hopkins, founder of One by One Subscription Boxes—a unique service designed to support individuals living with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and memory loss. These monthly subscription boxes are filled with brain-stimulating activities like painting, gardening, puzzles, and creative projects, all carefully crafted to engage seniors and promote cognitive stimulation.
Reagan shares the inspiration behind her business and how interactive activities can create meaningful moments for both caregivers and their loved ones. Learn how these tools help improve quality of life, reduce caregiver stress, and spark joy for individuals in various stages of dementia and memory care.
Whether you’re a caregiver, family member, or elder care professional, this conversation offers valuable insight into supporting seniors with Alzheimer’s and dementia through simple, creative activities delivered right to your door.
🎧 Tune in now to discover how One by One Subscription Boxes are helping caregivers connect, engage, and provide elder care support across the country.
Learn more about One by One here: https://www.onebyonecare.com/
Host: Bob Mannor, CELA
Executive Producer: Savannah Meksto
Assistant Producer: Samantha Noah
Assistant Producer: Shalene Gaul
About our guest, Reagen Hopkins:
Reagan started One by One Subscription Boxes after working in an Adult Day Center specifically for people with Alzheimer's/dementia, understanding the need for more options of brain stimulation for our loved ones affected by these diseases. Because Day Centers aren't a viable option for everyone, One by One Subscription Boxes brings the mental stimulation and activities to your doorstep every month! Reagan's love for working with seniors started from a young age as she spent a lot of time hanging out with her grandparents and visiting elderly neighbors. When not working, Reagan enjoys going on walks, visiting residents in assisted living, reading, and spending time with her family.
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ABOUT US:
Mannor Law Group helps clients in all matters of estate planning and elder law including special needs planning, veterans’ benefits, Medicaid planning, estate administration, and more. We offer guidance through all stages of life.
We also help families dealing with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other illnesses that cause memory loss. We take a comprehensive, holistic approach, called Life Care Planning. LEARN MORE...
You're listening to Advice from your Advocates, a show where we provide elder law advice to professionals who work with the elderly and their families.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to Advice from your Advocates. I'm Bob Manor. I am a board-certified elder law attorney in Michigan and Advice from your Advocates. We get to talk to some really interesting people and we've got a really interesting person today. So we've got Regan Hopkins, who has 1x1 Subscription Boxes. Regan, how are you doing?
Speaker 1:I'm doing good. Thanks for having me on today.
Speaker 2:So let's get started by telling us about what is 1x1 Subscription Boxes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. 1x1 Subscription Boxes is a business that I started just last year that specializes in providing activities for people with Alzheimer's and dementia to help them be a little bit more stimulated and be a little bit more entertained.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very good. So basically you're trying to make sure their brain continues to be stimulated and hopefully slow down the progression of the memory loss.
Speaker 1:Yep, that's exactly right.
Speaker 2:So tell us more about the boxes. I'm really interested because this is a great idea, and so I want to. In a minute, I'll ask you how you came up with this idea, but before we get there, I just want to know what's in the box.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. Our boxes are super fun in my opinion, and they vary from month to month. So we include around like seven to eight activities and we try to do an activity for every type of like hobby or interest. So we do things like painting, we do gardening in the summers we do. We always include some brain teasers in there, like finish the lyrics to these oldies songs, and we do mix and match games and then some seasonal crafts as well.
Speaker 2:That kind of sounds fun for just about anybody who's getting older, right? I mean it is designed to help with folks that have some form of dementia diagnosis, but really it does sound like something that regular folks would, especially of that age range are going to be interested in.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, absolutely. And I always hear from people you know, like my grandparents or whatever, that always say you know retirement is boring and I say, well, try a box, they're fun.
Speaker 2:Nice yeah, and I imagine it could actually even be done in a group, like if you invite your neighbor over and you do the projects together, potentially.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, for sure, these activities, since they're designed to be done for, like, a loved one and their caregiver, they're really good to include another person, build a connection, build a relationship with someone over a little painting or something.
Speaker 2:Nice. So it's interesting and you know we'll get into a lot of the details here but from a standpoint of somebody that's been working with families that have somebody with dementia for 25 plus years now that what we know about dementia isn't still perfect. We still lack a lot of knowledge about it, but there are. We're learning more and more every year, right, and one of the things that we have learned is that some of the neural pathways in the brain are still there and we just have to activate them.
Speaker 2:So when somebody has memory loss, but they still have that creativity, those neural pathways of creativity, and so music and art and those types of things, often somebody that might not be able to remember your name or remember what they had for breakfast would still remember that song from the 50s or whatever. It is right, yeah, and so this is really important to activate those. I remember working with an occupational therapist that focused on dementia and she was talking about kind of combining the creative brain with activities, and so one of the things that she would teach families to do she would say we'll create a song so when her patient should be using a walker, that they were not stable on their feet and they should be using a walker. They would create a song and they would sing that song and it would be one of those sort of brain worms where they have that song in their mind that says, okay, when we get up we use the walker, whatever it is.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to sing for you because I'm terrible, but the idea is that you can use that creative brain and that can really stimulate a lot of things. And that's some of the things that I think we probably don't focus on enough with folks with dementia. We kind of too many times we just accept that All right, well, they can't remember, they're repeating themselves, things like that, but they still have certain neural pathways that probably are very active and we can access those and really give them potentially a better quality of life with the things that you're talking about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so true. I never underestimate anybody with dementia, because they really are capable of so much more than they might look like they're capable of, and so that's why I love putting these boxes together, because I know that these people can do them, and I know that it's going to help them in the long run too.
Speaker 2:So I'm really curious how did this come about? So where did you get an affection for this? Where did you get that passion for providing this kind of help and providing this kind of service?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it might sound a little bit silly, but ever since I was super little, one of my favorite things to do was just hang out with my grandma, like no matter what she was doing, I just wanted to, like go run errands with her, iron her clothes or whatever it was, and so we'd always be hanging out. And then later in life she became the caregiver for her mom.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And so when she took on that role I was just around a lot for that too, just as much as I could be, and because, again, I just liked hanging out with them like playing cards we would curl my great grandma's hair and I just liked being around while they were getting their tasks done. And so I think that's where my love for seniors and senior care really started was just with those ladies. And so after that I just kind of started taking a path where I was working more in senior care and then I ended up at an adult day center and I worked there for a while as their activity director, and this day center was specifically for people with dementia and I loved it Seriously. I loved getting up to go to work every single day because, like I said, I could just see these people that are going through a big struggle. I could just see them growing. You know, even if they couldn't remember my name, I would see them accomplish something or make a friend that day in the day center, and that was payback enough for me.
Speaker 1:And then life kind of prompted a location change for me and I moved from Southern Utah to Northern Utah and I was like, well, I want to see another side of senior care. So I started working as an in-home caregiver specifically for memory care, and I loved that too, anyway. So that's kind of where I got my start in senior care with my grandma and then kind of worked my way up from there.
Speaker 2:So tell us a little bit more about your service. So, from what I understand and you can fill in the details here it's a monthly subscription, so they get a box of activities every single month. Is that right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so I always describe it. It's a little bit like Netflix you pay one time every month and then you get something for it, but instead of being something on your TV or whatever, this is an actual product that we provide, so you'll get a package on your doorstep every month, from one by one care.
Speaker 2:Nice. And so how do you decide what's in the box every month? That must take a little bit of effort to make sure that you're keeping up and staying creative, and all of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure. So my days as an activity director were super helpful for me, just because I draw back to that a lot and I include a lot of activities that we did back then. So that shows that our boxes are definitely tried and true and dementia friendly. So I think about that a lot. If you've heard of Pinterest, I scroll on Pinterest a lot and I just try to get inspiration like what are some good seasonal crafts and then I modify them myself to be dementia friendly, what about?
Speaker 2:and you and I had a brief conversation before about this, and I'm just curious. You know I have talked to lots of people that they're worried about developing dementia. So they haven't. You know, obviously, as we age, we're all going to have some memory, you know, lapses, whatever. That's just normal aging and that's fine. And so sometimes there's folks that they say you know, I'd like to start doing some things to make it less likely that I'm going to develop dementia.
Speaker 2:I read a study and we actually had somebody on our podcast recently that talked about this that the majority of dementia, especially Alzheimer's, isn't destiny. It isn't based on genes. There is a percentage that is likely that you're going to end up with dementia and you can probably lessen that by doing certain things and eating better and exercising and using your mind and things like that. But the majority you could actually potentially prevent dementia by staying active, by eating right, by exercising the brain. So what about somebody that might be? You know? Hey, I just want to consider these activities. I don't have dementia, I want to make it less likely I'm going to get dementia. It seems like that would be an appropriate subscription for them too, right.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, absolutely. So I hear a lot from people just that retirement is boring like we don't have anything to do and I just say, well, try a box, because our boxes are fun, and maybe I had mentioned this before, but because our boxes are set up to have a loved one, complete it with their caregiver or a friend or whatever. Even someone that doesn't have dementia or Alzheimer's, they can complete it with a grandkid you know, a neighbor, anybody, and for sure these are super great for brain stimulation.
Speaker 1:I complete all of the activities every month just because I think it's fun and I know that it's good for my brain too.
Speaker 2:So absolutely yeah, so very good. So I want to make sure for our listeners you will. Someone can subscribe to your service from anywhere in the United States. Is that accurate or are you limited in geography?
Speaker 1:We're available in the lower 48 states. If you can get mail, you can get a box, so we pride ourselves on that. Just being able to reach anybody almost anywhere, yeah.
Speaker 2:Very good. I think this is a great idea. I'm glad that you came up with it and that you decided to pursue it. It takes a lot to start a business on your own as a young person, and I appreciate the efforts that you put into this. What are some of what are you hoping for for the future? Where do you see this going in the future?
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, my first goal is that I would love to get a subscriber in all 48 states. So check back in a little bit and I'll let you know where I'm at with my goal. But I would love to also have activities and options for every person in each stage of the disease. Right now, the boxes that we provide.
Speaker 1:they are best suited for people with mild to moderate stages of the disease, but I want to provide something for those people in the advanced stages and so right now I've got a couple of things on the drawing board that I'm trying to turn these ideas into a reality and so hopefully those will be launched in 2025. So we can be serving everybody and anybody with the disease and hopefully anybody's interests and hobbies, and just help these loved ones and our caregivers out.
Speaker 2:I imagine that would be very challenging to deal with the later stages of the disease. And the thing is, I think that that could be really helpful and important for folks. One of the things that we always try to make sure that the family understands when we're dealing with dementia that one of the best ways to address, let's say, certain behaviors that can be uncomfortable is distraction. Right that we don't argue with somebody with dementia, we don't try to convince them, we don't try to explain that their mother has passed away. That's unnecessary to go through that grief again. It's to. I saw you've probably seen this, maybe online there's a number of celebrities now that are doing some promotions for the Alzheimer's Association.
Speaker 1:And one of them.
Speaker 2:I think it was, I can't remember. It's one of the comedian guys and he talks about when he was dealing with his, I think, parent or something that he used his skill set, that he got from improv. And in improv one of the things that they always do is yes and and so in improv it really shuts down. If you're going to do improv if you ever watched improv, second City or anything like that if you say no, somebody presents an idea, you say no, it kind of shuts everything down.
Speaker 2:So in improv it's always yes and, and then you add on to it and he was saying that that's very helpful in dealing with somebody with dementia is yes, and in other words, we're not arguing with them, we're not saying remember this, or do you remember mom died already, or you know, whatever that is, that's not necessary to create that sort of negativity and it actually causes more difficulty. It's the yes and, and one of the things that we're always looking for is sort of a distraction, and I think that what you're presenting is that could be one of those things in the later stages. I'm not sure exactly how you're going to present that, but it could be hey, let's get out the box and do an activity that could sort of provide that distraction. So if somebody is getting upset, somebody is getting agitated, we do the yes, and let's get out the box and do an activity.
Speaker 1:So it sounds great. Yes, yeah, I love that analogy. That's so smart to keep that in mind, because it can be tricky, for sure, but there are skills that we can use to make life a little bit easier for us, right?
Speaker 2:So what's the best way? If somebody's interested, tell me about it. Do you have a website? What's the best way to subscribe to your service?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we have a website. It's called onebyonecarecom and yep, yep, you got it, and so on. There you'll see our subscription plan. Right now we just have the one. It's $43 per month and that includes shipping, and then, like I said, those activities will vary from month to month. Something that I started hearing when I started this company was that some people were thinking, like well, my loved one only likes to do one type of activity, or I'm not going to force them to do you know, these other six activities when they only want to match cards.
Speaker 1:You know these other six activities when they only want to match cards, and so I created activity specific boxes, and those are for the people that just want to do one type of activity. So right now we offer the artist box, so that's just what it sounds like. We do painting and coloring and stamps and anything to do with art. We'll put it in that box. And then we do a mix and match box, which is just sorting and matching and like anything you can think of, like colors and buttons and numbers and things like that.
Speaker 1:And then the last box that we have right now is called the botanist box, which is a really fun one. I think we provide all of the supplies for you to grow your own plants, so that's kind of fun. And then I like the botanist box personally just because it's something that you and your loved one can go back to every day, like, hey, let's go check on our plant. Hey, let's go water our plant, you know so, yeah, so right now that's what we have for offering, but hopefully we'll see more in 2025.
Speaker 2:And I like that you're keeping this cost effective. You know $43 a month is not a massive investment and if it could make a difference in the quality of life of your spouse, your parent, you know, your loved one it's. You know that's a small investment to make an impact on quality of life. So that's I love that. I want to clarify, just because I don't want anybody to be seeking you out and not find you. So one by one is spelled out O-N-E-B-Y-O-N-E right.
Speaker 1:Yep, that's correct.
Speaker 2:It's not the letter one, it's the word, one by one carecom.
Speaker 1:Yep, that's correct.
Speaker 2:Very good. So, yeah, great service, I'm excited about it. We have our care navigation team in my law office that provides continuing advocacy and care navigation for our clients, and I'm going to introduce them to your service and see if you know where which of our clients might be able to benefit from this subscription service, because it definitely seems like something that can impact the quality of life and, frankly, the quality of the life of the caregiver too, because if you're just always there performing tasks and never have an opportunity to sort of interact with your loved one anymore, have an opportunity to sort of interact with your loved one anymore you're solely a caregiver performing tasks, as opposed to, you know, interacting in a personal way with your loved one. That can be very taxing and very demoralizing, and so I think your service is great because it creates an opportunity to have that personal interaction, which is so important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I totally agree. I feel like you know, life as a caregiver can be boring and life as someone with Alzheimer's can be boring too, and we're not here to live a boring life, and so hopefully these boxes can spark a little bit of joy and, you know, for your loved one, but also for you, hopefully it's just a happy side of life. But I was going to say too, with the website, if there's questions or anything like that, all of the contact information just goes to me, since I'm running this, and so if anybody has questions or wants clarification, then you'll find my number and an email on our website and feel free to reach out. You'll just be chatting with me, and so that would be great.
Speaker 2:So, so appreciate that you had the insight and passion to create this service, megan Hopkins from onebyonecarecom creating a subscription box for activities for people that are suffering from some form of dementia, and I think it's a great service and thank you for coming on the podcast.
Speaker 1:Thank you, bob, thanks for having me think it's a great service and thank you for coming on the podcast. Thank you, bob, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:This has been so great, great talking with you. If you enjoyed this podcast, don't forget to subscribe to Advice From your Advocates. You can find us on any place that you listen to podcasts. We're on all of them and so if you like to see the people that are talking, you can go to YouTube and watch us. Most people, I understand, are just listening and one of the podcast sites and that's fine. So you can find us on YouTube or manorlawgroupcom, or you can go to our website at manorlawgroupcom. Thanks again, reagan.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening. To learn more, visit manorlawgroupcom.
