The Women Behind Jaide Products: A Mother-Daughter Mission to Change Lives

Quick Answer

Jaide Products is a women-owned, family-run medical equipment company based in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by mother-daughter team Jane Buunk and Anna Buunk, who created the Roturner, a Canadian-made sit-to-stand transfer device, out of a shared passion for improving quality of life for people with mobility challenges. Beyond their business, Jane and Anna founded Connecting Care Niagara, a not-for-profit organisation that provides free care supplies to seniors in need across the Niagara Region.

Behind every product, there is a story. Behind the Roturner, a Canadian-made transfer device used in homes, hospitals, and care facilities across the country, there are two women whose motivation has never been about the device itself. It has always been about the person using it.

Jane Buunk and Anna Buunk, a mother and daughter from St. Catharines, Ontario, built Jaide Products from a belief that the people who need help with mobility deserve more than a transaction. They deserve equipment designed with genuine care, a company that stands behind it, and a community that looks after them even when no sale is involved.

This is their story.

A Family Company, Built on Purpose

Jaide Products is not a corporation that moved into healthcare because the numbers looked good. It is a family-owned company, rooted in St. Catharines, Ontario, a Niagara Region city with a strong tradition of manufacturing, community, and care. Jane and Anna did not come from a background of venture capital and product launches. They came from a background of people: noticing who needed help, asking why the help was not reaching them, and deciding to do something about it.

The name Jaide Products itself reflects the personal nature of the company, not a generic corporate name, but one chosen to carry meaning for the family behind it. That personal quality runs through everything from how the team shows up for their customers.

“We see the Roturner as a way to improve the quality of life for someone, not just another medical device on the market.”

That distinction changes everything about how we approach design. Working alongside our valued distribution partners helps us get products where they need to go, but our driving motivation remains unchanged: staying deeply connected to the comfort and care of the patient. Jane and Anna chose a different path. They wanted to understand what caregivers actually struggle with, what patients actually experience, and what a device that genuinely solved those problems would look like.

The Roturner, a sling-free, lightweight, sit-to-stand transfer device rated to 550 lbs and designed to fit through standard residential doorways, is the product of that philosophy. But the philosophy came first.

What It Means to Be a Women-Owned Business in Canadian Healthcare

Women-owned businesses remain underrepresented in the medical device and healthcare equipment sector. The industry has historically been shaped by large institutional players, and while that is beginning to change, family-run Canadian company led by two women, building and selling equipment designed for some of the most vulnerable people in society, is still a story worth telling.

Jane and Anna have navigated that landscape without compromising on what they set out to do. They built a supply chain that keeps manufacturing in Canada. They cultivated a distributor network, that reaches caregivers and patients across the country. They have worked directly with occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and long-term care facilities to ensure the Roturner earns its place in clinical practice, not just on a website.

Women-Owned Business Certification

Jaide Products is a women-owned business. If you are a procurement team, occupational therapist practice, or healthcare organisation with supplier diversity commitments, the Jaide Products team is happy to discuss how this fits your purchasing criteria. Contact us at jaideproducts.com/contact/.

Being women-owned is not a marketing label for Jane and Anna, it is a reflection of how the company operates. Decisions are made at a human scale. Customer relationships are personal. When someone calls the Jaide Products team at 289-968-5968 to ask whether the Roturner is right for their mother or their care facility, they are talking to people who genuinely want to get the answer right, not a call centre working from a script.

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Beyond the Business: Connecting Care Niagara

For Jane and Anna, Jaide Products was never going to be the whole story. They have always understood that the gap between the people who need care and the resources available to them is wider than any single product can bridge. So they built something else too.

Connecting Care Niagara is a not-for-profit organisation founded by Jane and Anna Buunk, and Sandra D’Alessandro, dedicated to bridging the gap between hospital and home care in the Niagara Region. It operates on a simple principle: that navigating healthcare should not require expertise, connections, or financial resources that many people in need simply do not have.

What Connecting Care Niagara Does


Essential Supplies Program	Provides free personal care supplies, including briefs, toothpaste, and moisturisers, to seniors in need across the Niagara Region. Because dignity in daily care should not depend on income.
UTI Initiative	Provides free urinary tract infection test kits to help individuals detect infections early, reducing unnecessary hospital visits and improving health outcomes for vulnerable community members.
Community Guide	A comprehensive resource guide to help community members, caregivers, and healthcare providers navigate care options in the Niagara Region, all in one accessible, free document.
Connecting Care Network	A healthcare networking community that goes beyond business cards, fostering real collaboration between providers, service companies, and advocates to drive meaningful change in local care.

The vision behind Connecting Care Niagara is the same one that drives Jaide Products: that people deserve to be looked after, and that the organisations built to serve them should be built by people who genuinely believe that. Jane and Anna have made that belief structural, not just a value statement on a wall, but an organisation with programmes, partnerships, and a community behind it.

You can learn more about their work and the programmes they offer at connectingcareniagara.com.

Who Benefits From the Roturner in Rehabilitation?

The Roturner’s rehabilitation and transfer applications serve a wide range of patients, at home, in hospital, and in care settings:

Post-stroke residents who need supported standing practice and progressive sit-to-stand training as part of their neurological recovery
Residents with Parkinson’s disease who benefit from the structured, frame-guided initiation of movement that reduces freezing risk during exercises and transfers
Post-operative orthopaedic patients who require upright, controlled standing from the first post-operative day, with hip and knee precautions maintained
Residents with general deconditioning who need daily leg strengthening and standing practice to slow functional decline
Bariatric residents who require equipment with sufficient weight capacity, the Bariatric Roturner supports up to 550 lbs, filling a gap that standard transfer devices cannot

For a full overview of clinical applications, see the How It Works page or download the clinical brochure.

“It is not uncommon for individuals to feel lost on their healthcare journey. Our responsibility is to educate the community about additional resources available, empowering them to enhance the quality of life for themselves and their loved ones.”

– Connecting Care Niagara mission statement

Why This Matters When You Choose the Roturner

When you purchase the Roturner, for yourself, a family member, a care facility, or a clinical practice, you are not just buying a transfer device. You are choosing a company built by people who show up in the community the same way they show up for their customers.

The Roturner is Canadian-made and Canadian-supported. When something goes wrong, or when you have a question, you reach a team in St. Catharines, not an overseas call centre. When Jane and Anna make decisions about the Roturner’s design, capacity, or distribution, they make them against the backdrop of real patients, real caregivers, and a real community they are actively invested in.

That is not a marketing message. It is a structural reality, one that flows directly from the kind of company Jane and Anna chose to build.

The Jaide Products Difference

Women-owned and family-run: Jane and Anna Buunk bring personal accountability to every product decision and customer relationship.

Made in Canada: The Roturner is manufactured in St. Catharines, Ontario, supporting Canadian manufacturing and shortening supply chains.

Community-invested: Jane and Anna founded Connecting Care Niagara, giving back free care supplies and healthcare resources to the community they serve.

Mission-driven: The Roturner is not just a medical device. It is what happens when people who genuinely care about quality of life build a product.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who owns Jaide Products?

Jaide Products is owned by Jane Buunk and Anna Buunk, a mother-daughter team based in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is a women-owned, family-run business.

Is Jaide Products a women-owned business?

Yes, Jaide Products is a women-owned business founded and led by Jane Buunk and Anna Buunk. The company is based in St. Catharines, Ontario, and manufactures the Roturner, a Canadian-made sit-to-stand transfer device.

Where is Jaide Products located?

Jaide Products is located at 32 Seapark Dr, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. They are reachable by phone at 289-968-5968 or through their website at jaideproducts.com.

What is Connecting Care Niagara?

Connecting Care Niagara is a not-for-profit organisation founded by Jane and Anna Buunk of Jaide Products. It bridges the gap between hospital and home care in the Niagara Region through initiatives including a free Essential Supplies Program for seniors, free UTI test kits, and a healthcare networking community. Learn more at connectingcareniagara.com.

Is the Roturner made in Canada?

Yes, The Roturner is manufactured in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada by Jaide Products Inc.

What is the story behind Jaide Products?

Jaide Products was founded by mother and daughter Jane and Anna Buunk in St. Catharines, Ontario. The company was built on a belief that people with mobility challenges deserve equipment designed with genuine care not just another medical device. Alongside running Jaide Products, Jane and Anna founded Connecting Care Niagara, a not-for-profit that provides free care supplies and healthcare resources to seniors in need in the Niagara Region.

Does Jaide Products support the local community?

Yes, Beyond manufacturing the Roturner, Jane and Anna Buunk founded Connecting Care Niagara a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to bridging the gap between hospital and home care in the Niagara Region. Its programmes include free essential care supplies for seniors, free UTI test kits, and a community guide to healthcare resources in the region.

Meet the Team. Support the Mission.

If the Jaide Products story resonates with you, as a caregiver, a healthcare professional, a procurement team, or someone looking for a transfer device for a loved one, we would love to hear from you. Every purchase supports a Canadian, women-owned business that is actively reinvesting in its community.

→ Shop the Roturner — Standard & Bariatric Models

→ Learn How the Roturner Works

→ Request a Quote for Your Facility

→ Visit Connecting Care Niagara

→ Contact the Jaide Products Team