Our Story

'I liked the product so much I built the company'

Pat Surette liked the product so much he created a company. 

Pat’s job and livelihood were on the line. In order to continue making a living he had to find a way to stop the pain that all too often sidelines long-time heavy equipment operators, long haul truckers and others with similar jobs.

Pat  worked heavy machinery much of his adult life. From ‘dozers, to loaders to graders, Pat mastered them all. Getting into his 40s, Pat began noticing increased pain in his backside and later some numbness in his legs. Unlike similar bouts of pain when he was younger, this didn't go away after work. In fact, the pain and numbness became a constant health problem, threatening the love of life Pat was famous for in and around Yarmouth.

He tried a lot of remedies. Physiotherapy helped for a while, but a day on the grader and the pain was back. Different seats and cushions increased his comfort but didn’t solve the pain. It looked like he’d have to quit and find something else to do.

Pat’s health problem was caused by pressure. The same kind of pressure that causes bed sores and other problems for people in long term care or hospitals. The pressure of your own weight cutting off blood supply and oxygen to tissue. It is among the most common causes of injury and discomfort there is.

Armed with a little knowledge, Pat went to work to find a solution and find it he did - a company in Maryland with a 30-year track record of supplying a product based on a polymer with remarkable properties to the health and medical industry. Action Products is the company name, and Akton® is the patented polymer.  Akton® is a dry polymer that distributes weight so effectively it eliminates pressure points.  Patients on Action pads didn’t develop bed sores or other ulcers. In fact, patients with bed sores transferred to a Action pad saw the sores heal and disappear.

Pat liked what he heard and got a hold of an Action pad, right-sized for the seat of his machine. Within three weeks he was pain free and the numbness was gone.

“This was a miracle. I knew other people who this could help. I wanted everybody to know about this stuff.”

Pat began a long, friendly business discussion with Action, who were dedicated to their medical supply marketplace and encouraging of Pat’s vision to take the Akton® polymer to hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of people who it could benefit.

A business idea was born out of certain knowledge that this remarkable polymer product could heal and eliminate pain from prolonged sitting, reduce fatigue and reduce vibrations.  Pat soon had enough experience with Akton® to know its potential benefits are only limited by the imagination.

Working with Action Products who invented and manufactured the Akton® polymer, Pat and his wife Donna acquired the rights to Akton® in non-medical applications for Canada and Europe, and although there is another licensee in the States, Pat can develop that market as well.  He and the American Akton® (non-medical) licensee are working as partners, not competitors.

Pat and Donna have established their company - ProPoly - just outside Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  If you’ve ever ridden a motorcycle any distance, you know how your backside feels at the end of the day. That was a market an American company saw as a natural and developed the Butt Buffer seat pad which can be an accessory or installed directly in any bike seat.  ProPoly is the Canadian distributor of Butt Buffer.

Pat and Donna know that they have only scratched the surface of the amazing polymer’s potential. Donna is a horse enthusiast.  The ProPoly horse pad increases the ease of the ride for both horse and rider.  A friend had an annoying vibrating noise from a generator.  A ProPoly pad completely eliminated the problem.

The ProPoly cushion is not an immediate hit.  That’s because there is no discernable increase in comfort when you sit (or stand or kneel) on it. It’s not a big comfy pillow. In fact, that’s why it works and a big comfy pillow wouldn’t.  A pillow softens the pressure, but it does not distribute the pressure.  Even distribution of weight and pressure is the key to lasting comfort and freedom from injury related to prolonged pressure.

ProPoly and its founders are just getting started. Where the company goes from here depends. Pat and Donna believe it depends on only one critical factor. Others coming to discover what they already know.

Pro Poly has the ability to provide cushions for the Canadian commercial market. Pat says, “We sell it because we use it and believe in it.”