Technology and medical advances are allowing people to live longer and healthier lives. From this industry a new frontier is being born to handle the effects of living longer such as home care.
As a tech enthusiast and entrepreneur I spend lot’s of time each week hanging out at meetups and events talking with startups and software companies. One common theme here in Minnesota is health care. Minnesota is a hot bed for medical device engineering and medical device and software innovation.
A major theme for many is the aging baby boomer population and the need for services to help ensure a comfortable life. The startup and entrepreneur in me want’s to dive right into how many jobs and specialized services will be created over the next 2 decades. When I look online I already see several heavy hitters in the industry who are providing support to home care companies. A good read for those who are interested is this home care referrals article from HomeTrak.
Yet there are so many different kinds of specialized services out there for those who age. A recent startup I spoke with is working on a phone app to help those who are in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. What the app does is allow for memory cues and association to help the person living with Alzheimer’s hang on for as long as possible and have the ability to live independently for as long as possible.
What really drove the need for help in Alzheimer care home for me was when the startup presenter asked the room if they where caring for a person suffering from dementia or Alzheimer . I expected a few hands out of the 70 or so people in the room but there were at least 15 people who raised their hand. These are people caring for someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s and not someone who just knows someone.
The exciting part of this was this startup without even a MVP already had some initial funding in the 200K+ mark and this little startup is just the tip of the iceberg for how much funding is going into R&D for products and home care services for the baby boomer generation.
Capitalism in my mind works best when you have passionate people working on projects that mean a great deal to them and where a lot of money can be made.
In home care facilities are not just for those who need long extended or permanent care. There are many who simply get a serious injury or illness and while on the mend are not sick enough to be in a hospital but not well enough to be on their own either. This is a market industry that will be on the rise more and more as baby boomers age because the healing process takes a little longer.
People are always going to get sick and people are always going to age. In order to make healthcare and home care affordable technological advances is the only way everyone can benefit. With the amount of money that can be made in this industry I’m fully confident we are still in the early stages of what will be a real tech revolution with medical devices and home care.