Katie Jennings, of Forbes, has made available for download her article, “Digital Health’s Newest Unicorn Provides Lonely People With A ‘Family On Demand’,” published in Forbes Magazine. The abstract is as follows:
Andrew Parker’s grandfather needed help, but he didn’t need a doctor. He needed someone to help him with groceries and take him to doctor appointments. “Who wants to be a pal to my Papa?” Parker wrote in a Facebook post. More than a quarter of the U.S. population — and 28% of seniors — live alone. Social isolation can have serious downstream effects to people’s health, such as raising the risk of heart disease or stroke, and it’s estimated to cost the federal government $6.7 billion a year.
Several years after that Facebook post, Parker, 33, is helping seniors and low-income families get access to companionship and help around the house as the cofounder and CEO of Papa — and it’s being reimbursed by insurers. “We drive you to the doctor. We help you around the house. We teach you these computers. We engage you with your health. We take you on walks,” says Parker, who cofounded the company with Alfredo Vaamonde and Jake Rothstein in 2017. “We’re really like family on demand.”
Posted by Isabella King, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.
Wealth Strategies Journal 