Brad Lohman and Nicole Dyer will be launching their app in January.
Calgary-based Vytality At Home is launching an app-based home care service that offers seniors new options to remain in their homes.
With Calgary’s senior population growing three times faster than any other demographic, and with limited choices for personalized care in their homes, Vytality is providing on-demand technology to connect families with a range of services for their loved ones.
The company was founded by Nicole Dyer and Brad Lohman in September.
“Both of us have a strong background in seniors care and seniors living and we wanted to create something that was catering to the seniors that are coming out right now. So many seniors want to remain at home and so many families are burdened by the choices that are there to co-ordinate care for their loved ones,” said Dyer.
“When Brad and I sat down and came up with the concept of Vytality At Home, it was really with the thought process of creating transparent care – transparency for the family, transparency for the senior, transparency for the entire system.”
The app will go live in January. People will be able to request an in-home assessment or consultation. A nurse will then be deployed to the home to begin that relationship. A full assessment will be undertaken to find out what kind of care services the senior will need.
“Once that’s been done, then all the information will be based in our app and it will allow that family member or the senior themselves to choose their specific caregiver matched based on their preferences – matched on the skills that they need but also based on language preferences or specific communication skills. And then from there they will be able to schedule and pay for that care directly within the application. Once it’s been co-ordinated, they will receive a notification when the caregiver has arrived and they’ll be able to interact and interface with that caregiver while they’re on site,” said Dyer.
“I think that’s something that’s really key because we know in this industry that it can’t always be the exact same caregiver that goes into the home and so right now very rarely does the family have the ability to contact the caregiver directly. So via the technology they’ll be able to send messages to each other, they’ll be able to direct video conference with each other while they’re on site to maintain that connectivity.”
Dyer said once the care has been delivered, people will be notified that the caregiver has left the senior’s home.
“Something that we’re doing that again differentiates ourselves is we are looking at co-ordinating a lot of external services. We’re keeping up with a lot of local companies here in Calgary that are technology-based to help the seniors co-ordinate additional service offerings such as dog walking, snow removal, home security, technology instalment, grocery deliveries and meal preparations,” she said.
The new app will meet a growing demographic need in the community as Calgary’s seniors population continues to grow. Dyer said there are 20,000 seniors who require care in Calgary and by 2042 that number will be well above 55,000.
The Vytality At Home service will begin in Calgary but by the end of the year it will include surrounding communities. And Dyer said the company will look to expand eventually to the rest of Alberta and into other areas of Western Canada.
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