Accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis, families are in dire need of home care, but labour shortages make accessible home care a challenge for most people in Canada and many suffer in silence.
Take for example Mr. Jones*, who sustained a spinal cord injury in a car accident. After spending several weeks in the hospital, he was discharged from hospital care to convalesce at home in rural Ontario. His home has no infrastructure to support a paraplegic, and as a result, he couldn’t shower for more than a month. This lack of control over his own care has taken an enormous physical, emotional, and psychological toll. Thankfully, his nurse case manager heard about Gotcare, and within 30 minutes, Mr. Jones was matched with a local home care aide and received care the following day.
Gotcare is modernizing the home care industry by using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to match every patient with a home care worker. When the company receives patient referrals from occupational therapists and nurse case managers, they use their patent-pending technology to connect patients to the most ideal local care aide based on the type of care required, proximity, language, and other culturally relevant factors.
Company co-founder and CEO, Chenny Xia, is focused on building relationships and keeping care within the community to provide families with the ability to be in control of their own care or the care of their loved ones.
Since launching in 2018, the company has expanded operations to Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador; and is powered by a network of more than 20,000 care workers. That number is expected to rise as they expand to other provinces and more rural areas of Canada. For the home care industry, that’s very welcomed news.
Throughout the pandemic, home care organizations have been facing the challenge of meeting requested visits. With some areas seeing less than half of visits being fulfilled**, Gotcare’s mission is critical for people living in Canada.
The industry has also seen a drop in care workers reportedly due to poor compensation, stress due to the pandemic, and feeling undervalued for their work. Home care workers face very high physical and mental demands on the job. Additionally, their current rate of pay is not enough to earn a sustainable living – it’s why many are forced to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.
The home care industry typically pays between $18 to $20 per hour for care aides. However, with the use of modern technology, Gotcare has lowered the cost of care delivery by up to 30 per cent and is able to pay its workforce between $23 to $28 per hour. Moreover, administrative tasks for care workers and families are streamlined so that all paperwork is taken care of and reporting is provided to case managers in real-time.
Xia believes that taking care of our elderly and disabled citizens should not be a minimum-wage paying job. Through codesign, new technologies, and process innovation, Gotcare is supporting the much-needed shift from ‘survive’ to ‘thrive’ by building a home care experience that is more modern, personalized, and equitable.
By collaborating with investors like the TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good and SheEO, Gotcare is able to continue improving the accessibility and affordability of home care services while expanding its operations into other regions of the country.
Throughout the pandemic, home care html organizations have been facing the challenge of meeting requested visits. With some areas seeing less than half of visits being fulfilled**, Gotcare’s mission is critical for people living in Canada.
* Mr. Jones’, although a real patient of Gotcare’s services, has a fictitious name in this article to protect his identity.
** Source: https://www.thestar.com/business/opinion/2021/10/25/ontarioseniors-and-patients-will-pay-the-price-of-the-developing-home-care-crisis.
