Help Local Firefighter's Toy 'Get On the Shelf'

A local firefighter/paramedic is asking for the community to help him put a toy he designed for sick children and their families on the shelves of Walmart.

Steve Islava, a longtime inventor of medical and safety products, recently invented a plastic doll dubbed Laffy Laffalot. 

The toy, meant to inject levity into difficult situations for families with sick children, plays 20 different kinds of pre-recorded laughter. Laffy also has four buttons that families can use to record personalized, 15-second messages.

For each $19.95 purchase, Islava donates $3 to the National Children’s Cancer Society.

Islava has been inventing products to make the jobs of his colleagues, firefighters and parademics, easier for about 15 years, he said. Currently, he is based out of Station 38, at 26 Parker, on the border of Irvine and Lake Forest.

"It's all about giving back and inventing things to make lives better," Isalva said in a recent interview with Patch.

Last year, Islava and his coworkers bought 300 Laffy toys and passed them out at Children's Hospital of Orange County. (He also donates $2 from each Laffy purchase made at LaffyLaffalot.com with the promo code CHOC to the children's hospital.)

"It was humbing and therapeutic for us as much as the children," he said.

Other products he's designed include an emergency ladder that won't tangle for children in case of fire, a head immobilizer and a device that holds a mouth tube in place for an unconscious patient, which he says was most notably being used by Michael Jackson at the time of his death.

Now, he's hoping the community will help get Laffy on the shelves of Walmart through an online contest the mega-retailer is holding through April 3.

The top three products in the "Get It On the Shelf" contest, as chosen by voters, will get the chance to be sold on Walmart shelves or on Walmart.com.

To help Islava, Patch readers can vote for Laffy to “Get on the Shelf” at Walmart by texting 4198 to 383838 once a day until the voting period ends on April 3.

Readers with a Facebook account can also vote through the social networking site by visiting the Laffy Laffalot page on GetOntheShelf.com and click on the "Voting by Facebook" button.