LAYTON -- This brother/sister team wanted to make the view better for kids in their hospital rooms.
Now, Deja and Canyon Viau (pronounced view), ages 12 and 10, respectively, of Layton, will be honored at the "Best of State Awards Gala" on June 4 in Salt Lake City. They are receiving the "Community Development Individual Humanitarian" Best of State award in the private sector.
The two, along with their father, Mark Viau, are co-founders and co-chief executive officers of ImagineItSkins.com.
The company was the brainchild of Deja in 2009.
"My dad snores, so he had to wear a CPAP and it looks like an air pilot mask," said Deja, a seventh-grader at Fairfield Junior High.
"I figured it wouldn't be so scary if it was more colorful. Then we started talking and thought about the hospital rooms where kids stay."
Canyon said they talked to friends and looked at what type of materials they could use to make walls more inviting to young patients.
"The hard part was finding something that would stay a long time on a wall without hurting the paint," he said.
Another friend tested a vinyl picture they made and found "they couldn't scrub the image off," Mark Viau said.
"We get art email and search through them," Deja said. "If it isn't kid-friendly, we don't use it."
The vinyl artwork is manufactured by Advanced Graphics in Layton, Mark Viau said.
What is nice about the artwork is it's reusable, so if a patient wants a jungle room instead of an ocean view, it takes only minutes to change the scenery.
The Viaus just signed a contract with Cardinal Health Care to put their imagines in rooms. They will begin in assisted-living/nursing space and rooms.
"They are the first children to receive this award for this category," said Mark Layton, president of the Best of State, a nonprofit organization.
Layton said other kids have received awards in different categories during the organization's nine-year history.
Mark Viau said he isn't raising his kids to be miniature entrepreneurs, but "if they have an idea, I try to give them the tools make it happen."
The two youngsters have made presentations to executives about their products and are not afraid to speak up, said Mark Viau.
Deja is excited about their next endeavor -- for which they have just received a patent -- an insert to put inside a backpack to distribute the weight of books better.
"It's called a Load Tamer. You can take it out and hang it in your locker with all of your books organized, and your back doesn't hurt."
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