Careship Is Harnessing the Power of Community to Tackle the Caregiving Crisis

 

Welcome Salome!

Thank you, Keren. Great to be here. 

Thank you for joining me. Tell us about Careship. 

Careship is a Berlin-based startup that was founded in 2015. I have the great honor to be part of this amazing journey that we are having at the moment.

What does Careship do? We are a managed service to bring seniors together with companions from the neighborhood. 

For people like you and me who want to do some good on the side, to have a job on the side that matters, and support seniors with everything a caring relative would do. Like household services, companionship, running errands. 

Our vision is to enable seniors to age in grace independently at home. 

Careship is currently live in Germany in 30 cities. We have plans to expand to the DACH region, and to other European cities.

There is so much more to do to help so many people in Germany that we are really focusing on that for now. 

Our caregivers are people like you and me that really want to do some good. Surprisingly many of our caregivers are active seniors themselves.

This is really interesting for us. We were expecting students that wanted to help and be companions. But young retirees also want to do something that matters. They too want to feel they are needed in their life and have a purpose. They come on board and work with us as caregivers to support people in their neighborhoods.

We feel we can create value for the caregivers by offering them an opportunity to do a job on the side that matters. On the other hand, the customers can get help at home, and stay independently at home as long as they want.

Of course, the caring relatives get a bit of ease of mind and get some time for themselves. They have a bit of breathing room because they’re doing such an amazing and demanding job to take care of their loved ones. So we really try to help all the different care stakeholders.

At Careship, we want to professionalize home care. We want to fight against the black market, making the conditions way better to work in the care field. And offload work from nurses that are already really stretched–by offering companionship-oriented care. This is a new category of companions, people from the neighborhood that really can and want to help.

It sounds amazing. And you’re not only the company’s COO you’re also the company’s care expert because you have a background in psychology, right? 

Exactly. My journey to become a COO was not the most straightforward one. I originally studied psychology and worked for three years in the mental health field. I was working with people with mental illnesses in different housing projects. Schizophrenia, depression, etc. So I know how it feels to be on the caregiver side. 

When I originally joined the company, I actually joined as Head of Caregivers, the head of supply side, because I felt like the job is tremendous that the caregivers are doing. We really need to enable the caregivers and support them with training, supervision, and everything we can do to provide a great job that matters.

Although not from the classical care field, I deeply care about our caregivers and help the people to do a great job. 

You mentioned that Careship is currently available in 30 locations in Germany. Do you have plans to expand to other countries in Europe or globally?

Yes. As mentioned at the beginning, we feel like there’s so much more we can do in Germany. If you look at where the elderly live, it’s often more in the rural areas, and the suburbs, and the countryside.

Right now we are mainly focusing on the cities. We want to crack the code on how to service everyone in Germany who needs help. Germany is one of the biggest markets. We feel like there’s so much more we can achieve and do.

Ultimately, the problem we are solving is the same in every European country. The systems we are building can really close that gap. We offer a great caregiver application to help our caregivers organize their business for the customers. We have a great matching algorithm. 

Everything we are building can be applied to every country. So start in Germany first, but then we can really see ourselves going to other regions. The sky’s the limit. 

For example, we had a panel discussion recently with Crossbie (Japanese tech and cultural exchange). Japan is facing the same issues on how best to take care of the elderly.

There is much interest in expanding our service, and how we are solving this home care problem. We have big aspirations for the future but are for now focusing on the German market.  

So how does it actually work?  If I’m an older adult and I need help, what do I do and what happens? And if I’m an everyday helper, how does that work on my side?

Who are our customers? Who are the people booking? It is a mix. Seniors booking for themselves are around 40% of our customer base. We also have relatives booking for their loved ones. Traditionally, the daughters are the carers and the care coordinators for the family. They can reach out to us or book online. We know our target group is not always digitally or tech savvy. This is definitely changing. 

We have an amazing support team who helps to educate the loved ones and the seniors. What are their rights? What are their budgets? How does it work? Who are caregivers? It’s such an emotional decision.

We want to show that they can trust us. We are a trusted brand that really cares. So our team evaluates the needs. What type of caregiver is wanted? What kinds of services are being booked? And then the matching process starts. We find the best caregiver that’s suitable from their community.

We have a strong focus on finding someone from the neighborhood because this is really something the seniors care about. And to have this neighborhood aspect, someone that can also be there spontaneously. At the first meeting they can get to know each other. We are supporting the entire process, to get feedback, to really ensure that chemistry is right.

After the first visit, we consult with the customers and stay really close. I think our team is doing a great job to be present and available.

On the caregiver side, how does it work there? Again, everyone with the right motivation and mindset can become a caregiver.

Ultimately, there is a very important question we are asking. Would you send that person to your own grandmother? Only if it’s a yes, then someone comes on board. 

Brian, our CEO, is always joking that it is easier to get into Harvard than to become a Careship caregiver. 

We have such a thorough vetting process because we know that this is essential. We need to ensure we have the highest quality. We don’t consider ourselves a marketplace, but a managed service, a high-quality curated home care service.

All of our caregivers go through an extensive screening process. We ensure that they get the digital 

training they need, that they have all the documents that are needed. We get to know them via a video call. We see and talk to the person live and get to know them a little bit more intimately than if it was just online.

One thing that’s important for Careship is to professionalize the home care market. We want to always ensure that the police record is clean, and that the business is properly registered. There’s so much activity on the black market. We really want to ensure that everything is correct.

When it comes to the compensation of the caregivers, it’s really important that the majority of what the customer is paying goes into the pockets of the caregivers. We want to make this whole caring business more attractive for everyone.

How do you train your caregivers? I assume they don’t come to your headquarters to go through an all day training.

Exactly. Everything is online. We created a lot of content ourselves like training videos and quizzes: How does Careship work? What are expectations? How to treat our customers? Et cetera.

We also partner with providers that focus on digital education for caregivers and caring relatives. All of our caregivers go through the tutorials and learn about different illnesses like dementia and how to handle it. 

So our caregivers can really learn how to be effective. We really want to educate them. They can get certificates. So I think this is a great opportunity to further push their career by going through our Careship Academy, as we call it. 

You mentioned that you want to professionalize the market. I’m not actually familiar with the home care market in Germany.

Can you elaborate a bit on what is the existing situation and where do you want to bring the industry? 

Looking at the German market, it’s highly fragmented. We have many small providers, like ambulatory care providers. Or you have people that provide home care on the black market where the working conditions are not good and fair.

Our goal is to create this new category of helpers. There are enough people that can and want to help in the neighborhood. They just need access to the market. For most caregivers that join Careship, they would have never become caregivers without our support.

Caregiving is a new path. They are looking for something meaningful to do that works for them. 

How do we want to professionalize the market? It’s by giving vetted caregivers all the tools they need and making sure they’re paid properly over the table.

We take care of the entire onboarding, matching, service delivery and quality process. Including customer acquisition and invoice generation. So we’re trying to do everything we can to provide the caregivers with the tools to run a small business in the right way. 

In Germany, we have budgets for companionship care. Also reimbursements from insurances. So we enable customers to use the budgets they have. We want to facilitate the whole process of getting access and reimbursed. So I think this is a big part of it. And to qualify, of course. It also needs to be legally handled in the right way.

Many of your caregivers are actually older adults. Do you ask them, what is their main motivation for joining Careship? Like is it the extra income or is it because they want to help people in their neighborhoods? 

I think it’s really the latter, the intrinsic motivation. Sure the extra income doesn’t hurt.

There is poverty among seniors. And it’s great that we are enabling them to have some extra money. 

More importantly, it is having the right motivation and mindset, and really wanting to help people. This is what we are looking for in our caregivers.

We have a well known caregiver in Munich. She is over 70. Until two years ago, she worked at a fashion startup working 60 hours a week. She was ready for a career change. She joined Careship because she wanted her work to have a purpose where she can create value for other humans.

For many people: If you’ve worked all your life and then suddenly that stops, what do you do with your time? This is really a great opportunity to do good. And use the time wisely. We get a lot of nice feedback. 

Sometimes it’s also easier for seniors to receive help from someone that’s a little bit older. Older caregivers can understand a little bit better the issues they’re going through like being in pain or whatever it might be. So I think there’s so much value for the older caregivers that come on board and join us. 

That’s such a wonderful thing to know that most of your caregivers are actually doing it because they want to help people in their neighborhoods and to put their energy into their local community.

This local focus is really important for us. I think this is so beautiful because you really get connected. 

We can also connect different generations. We have young people and students that come on board as caregivers and say, “Hey, I miss my grandma”. She lives so far away. I really want to learn more from the older generation. I want to hear their stories. So this connection is fantastic. Many people find their second grandma. So through Careship, caregivers are working in their own neighborhood and develop real relationships.

Most of our caregivers are doing home care on the side and operate as small business owners. On average, a caregiver has two to three customers. The focus enables them to have a strong bond and relationship. They are not just looking at caregiving as a job. There is so much intimacy and emotional reward.

We just had our company all hands meeting. One of our coworkers shared the story of a customer who had a bad accident. She ended up in a wheelchair and didn’t have anyone to support her. We found this young and energetic caregiver that lives in the same neighborhood.

They actually spent so much time together. She’s going to surprise her on Sunday for Mother’s day. She’s already planning to go over and bring her some flowers. This is far beyond a job or a profession. This is really a lifelong relationship that is being built.

What is the bigger vision? Where do you see Careship in five or 10 years? 

Our vision is for the independence and wellbeing of everyone in need of home care. 

So we are focusing on the senior sector right now, but we think our services are also relevant to so many more people who need home care.

Like people with disabilities. Or people that need support and care after an accident. So we really want to support everyone who has home care needs. 

We want to also take the stigma out of receiving help at home. There’s nothing wrong with needing home care support. This is completely fine. And we want to be the number one solution for everyone in need of home care. 

As I mentioned, we want to enable those in need of home care to lead a healthy life and be independent through a trusted, local companion, seamless technology, and our committed service team that deeply cares about what the customers and caregivers need.

Careship has an amazing care culture. Those three elements: the companions, the technology and the team will enable us to achieve our vision of being the number one home care provider. 

Is there anything else you would like to add? 

The care journey is a highly complex, personal and emotional journey. There is not one size that fits all.

And we are focusing on all the different stakeholders:

What does the senior need?

What does the caring relative need? 

What does the caregiver need?

How does automation support the stakeholders?

Careship provides a tech enabled solution that supports all stakeholders. We have defined this new companionship category that didn’t exist on the market. Critically, we are bringing new people into the caregiving role to help close the supply gap that society is experiencing right now.

Many of the companionship services don’t need to be handled by nurses. We want to support nurses so they can focus on the medical help only a qualified medical professional can provide. There is a massive nursing shortage which is growing every day.

COVID has been a very intense period putting even more pressure and spotlight on elder home care and loneliness. Even with the COVID restrictions, last year we managed to support 2,500 families and provided more than 90,000 hours of home care support.

It was an amazing challenge for our seniors, their families, our caregivers and the company. Although it has been a super tough time for everyone, we are just so glad that we could be there to help.

COVID is amplifying care issues and accelerating so many changes: Who takes care of the elderly? The topic of senior loneliness is not so much a taboo anymore. So this is an exciting opportunity for Careship to make a difference and to really make a change. 

We just did a survey for our customers, asking them how COVID has impacted their mental wellbeing. The numbers were actually a little bit shocking, but we can really see there’s so much need for social interaction.

Half of the customers leave their house less than once a day. Around 40% spent Christmas alone. So there’s so much more we can do. We can really bring joy and quality of life to so many seniors by just having more social interaction and removing the stigma of paid vetted home care and companionship.

Absolutely. Salome, thank you so much for joining me today. It was a pleasure not only meeting, but learning more about Careship.

Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure.