PowerLiving with Kimberlee Langford
PowerLiving with Kimberlee Langford
Here With: Revolutionizing Home Healthcare for Dialysis Patients
Join us as we chat with Veronica, Chief Operating Officer of Herewith Inc, as she shares how their innovative health tech platform connects patients with caregivers through a user-friendly app that resembles Uber and Bumble for caregiving that helps people come home - even for dialysis!
• San Francisco-based company using technology to help seniors and others stay in their homes
• App connects patients with fully vetted "helpers" who provide non-medical care, including dialysis support
• Helpers include retired RNs, seniors capable of providing companionship, and trained dialysis care partners
• All helpers undergo national, state, and county background checks
• Company holds workers comp and liability insurance for both families and caregivers
• Families set their budget and Here With only takes 20% of whatever price is agreed upon
• No contracts required, allowing flexibility in choosing caregivers and scheduling
• Caregivers come from the same communities as patients, making connections more meaningful
• Services extend beyond dialysis to include companionship, errands, meal preparation, and household tasks
• Platform available nationwide, with ability to quickly build caregiver networks in any zip code
• Engineering team can customize solutions based on specific needs
Visit herewith.com to learn more about connecting with caregivers who can help with dialysis and other care needs.
I'm so happy to have you here today with our clinical team. Veronica, as we were talking about earlier, we're neighbors. I think I could ride my bike to your house, which is pretty well. We're going to have to meet for coffee, or or? I don't drink coffee, but it sounds good, neither do I.
Speaker 1:So, yes, yes, happy to meet you though there you go, but they have nice shops and I'll get a like a lavender, I don't know hot something, whatever it'll be fun. But tell us a little bit about I was so excited when I met you at ADC to hear about what you're doing to help people who you know might want to come home. If they're on dialysis they want to come home but it you know they need help and you're doing something really phenomenal with your company. So, if you don't mind, tell us a little bit about you and your company and you know what what you're excited about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Again. Thank you, Kimberly, it's been an amazing, it was amazing meeting you there, super high energy and I love. You know the collaborations that you're a part of, and so I'm. My name is Veronica. I'm the Chief Operating Officer of here With Inc.
Speaker 2:And we are a San Francisco health tech company. It actually started with the original vision of helping seniors stay in their home for care, of helping seniors stay in their home for care, but not having a huge disconnect as to where agencies can and cannot go, how they can get help, etc. There's just so many barriers right now to getting care and, as we know, seniors are. There's not that support system like there used to be. So our app was developed to really make that connection. Think along the lines of Uber and Bumble kind of merged into one Bumble. They get to go on and you get to pick that perfect caregiver and you can go through and you're getting, and one of the things that we've been phenomenal at doing is being able to provide a vast amount of helpers is what our branded name is for our caregivers. They're called helpers, the herewith helpers, and we have a lot on there. They come from all different versions of the community and backgrounds and education and you know we have everything from RNs that are retired who are just like I really want to go out there and do things. We have seniors themselves who are a lot more physically capable than maybe their counterparts, who are looking to also do that companionship piece, go in and do puzzles, cause we do have everything non-medical and down, which we know is huge. Right, we can do hospice. We have people on there who have done hospice, memory care. We do the companionship one-off tasks. If every Wednesday you know grandma wants to go down and wants to play bingo and the working world is the way it is now, us as daughters are not able to be off every single Wednesday to take her to bingo, or maybe we don't live in the same location.
Speaker 2:You go on the app, you punch in a couple of, you know preferences and you can go on there and you can pick somebody within your own community because those are also helpers within the same community. So it's actually very beneficial for both ends and if you don't like someone, don't pick them next time, and that's okay. You're not not tied into a contract. We don't have the overhead that most facilities or agencies will have. Think along the lines of comfort keepers. They have an office. They're only within that specific amount of territory and so if you get these rural places, you might not be able to go into the rural places. But then again they also have the overhead, where you're paying, as a family $20 to $25 an hour.
Speaker 2:Quality isn't the best, or there's a lot of turnover, or not everybody can work the shifts that are imputed upon by agencies and facilities. Six to two, two to 10, 10 to six does not work for everybody, and I think we can think along the lines of parents. The school system is set up from 8 to 3, and you have to work 6 to 2. Well, what happens in those two hours? So then you end up not being able to have employment.
Speaker 2:And then what we realized was this is actually really beneficial for a lot more people than just seniors themselves. We started getting RNs reaching out, being like hey, I really would love to do this. Do you have anything for RNs? Do you have something that's more specialized? And we dove into dialysis as one of our verticals and we have what's called our healthcare partnership verticals, where we also do dementia and hospice care. But dialysis kind of came out as one of the ones in need. And what we realized was these care partners. They're going into the facilities, they're doing the training. You know, if Kimberly's my sister and I'm doing it with her, I'm this care partner and Kimberly no longer needs me. We then have, you know, an entire sector of people who are trained, who are certified and whose loved one is no longer there for them to care for.
Speaker 2:So we decided to start gathering those care partners up, because what is happening within the facility setting is one you know, you think along the lines of Davidia and Fresenius, and you realize that the people in the facility one, the facilities, are overwhelmed, they're overworked. There's a lot of turnover, we know, and that's healthcare in general. We know that there is an issue and we also know that patients thrive and do better if they are in that home setting. But, as the way the world works now, not everybody has a care partner to be at home with them. Or, you know, there's marriages are down we see that as a trend in our society and so maybe they started out and they had an amazing girlfriend that was just going to take care of them. Girlfriend gets burnt out, goes away, and then that patient no longer has a care partner to be with them. So this way they can go on the app, they can find somebody who's already done the training and they just need to do that singular training by themselves. So there's a plethora of these care partners starting to be on there again.
Speaker 2:We this was something we we just really felt that would be such a help to that community, and then what we learned through that care partner vision and version of it was facilities are also in need of CCHTs. We know that you don't have to be a CCHT to begin working in the facility, but there's call-offs, there's turnover, there's burnout. Again, not everybody can work those six to two, two to 10, 10 to six shifts, and so people need something that is more flexible. And so then we decided okay, well, this is really good, because that is one of the things that our app has done amazingly well is to garner all of the people that can visit or, excuse me, all of the people that can work.
Speaker 2:We do do background checks, so all of them are background checked, both statewide, nationwide and countywide, and that is something that you know, sometimes we don't even do as a facility. Normally, facilities do it right there in that community and for that state, we do hold the health insurance, and so we hold the workers comp insurance, for the families liability insurance, so both of them are covered. Both, you know, the patient themselves, that person that's getting the care, and the care provider or the care partner is also covered, and that is something that, um, we tell people, you know, when you come through us. Not only do we not have the overhead, but we have the insurances so that grandma, grandpa, in the case of dialysis, that person that is getting the dialysis isn't putting up their whole home at stake if this person hurts their back or falls on the ice or, you know, whatever may happen. And on the flip side of that, if there ever is abuse or something of that nature, this liability is still covered, and that is one of the best things. Going through there again when we go back to the, that is one of the best things going through there Again, when we go back to the overhead, the one of the best things that does happen is that family can set their price and rate, so we only take 20% off of whatever it is.
Speaker 2:So if someone comes in and they say I can afford $25 an hour, that's what I want to pay. We don't say, okay, great, $25 an hour, now we have to bump it up to 26 because we're going to take that portion off. The top 25 an hour goes into the app. We take out what would be four dollars and then that care partner gets paid the remainder, and so that, and that is all that shows to them, is hey, this, this family, hannah has posted a job and they need three days a week for three hours each time for the dialysis, and so Hannah doesn't go over her budget. That care partner knows exactly what they're going to be paid and the exact hours that they are needed.
Speaker 1:That is. I just have to say that is so cool. It is the best blend of a private caregiver and having the license, the bonding, the protections of working with a company. You, with Keith Edwards if you remember, keith Edwards and Michael Morales was talking with them a little bit about what you guys were doing as well and where you know people can have this kind of support to come home at the same kind of price point that they're gonna pay for having a caregiver come in. They can get. They can get your, your loved one, you can help have some help getting started on dialysis. They can throw a load in the wash, prep a meal.
Speaker 1:Uh, I just think that's really, really, uh, innovative definitely needs, a me a need and there really is a demand to help more people. Uh, you know, I think more people would come home if they had, you know, some help.
Speaker 2:So quality of life is there, you know, and I think that's that's a big deal right now. Um, and and being in the facility is so expensive and and and we know that patients do better if they're at home both, obviously, the comfort. But again, if you don't have a care provider or, excuse me, a care partner or somebody that can even even breaking down the boxes, you know, something as simple as that, we've realized is is a big deal. You go and and I don't know everybody here if they've had that experience you go into this patient's house and you see this giant wall of just stuff that needs to go out and and you're like, and they're so overwhelmed, they're like, hey, I don't have the energy for that, I'm trying to manage.
Speaker 2:And then you've got the care partner who's in the home. Even if they have someone who is loving and adoring, that person is getting burnt out. Maybe they're managing outside of the home they could be managing children or they're managing their older loved ones. Now their husband or wife is having to be on dialysis three times a week, which we know is a job in and of itself. So that person has no respite and and that is like one of the things that you can just go on there and you can say I just I need some help. I mean, it's something phenomenal.
Speaker 1:Well, and for the price point of a date night. Well, and for the price point of a date night. That's really phenomenal. The other thing, too, I was interested while it's not covered by insurances yet, I I can just see a time where, uh, I would think, no pressure for uh insurances out there, but I would think that they would figure out that there are some great savings. And helping people come home you know, just helping people come home, you know, just helping people come home it shaves off three months of primary liability for the plan in terms of their Medicare benefit. There's so many benefits to having people come home, so I just think it's phenomenal. But I wanted to open it up for the nursing team and see, you know, what questions do you have for Veronica?
Speaker 2:Yeah, please, and one of the things we're looking at too is looking into, you know, where is the need the most in specific areas. And if you want to be one of the places that you say, hey, I want to try this out again, there's no, it's kind of a no harm, no foul situation. If you try it out and you're like, oh, you know, I didn't get a lot of caregivers in my, in my area, a lot of helpers as we, as we call them, or there wasn't enough care partners, or there, you know, something occurred that it wasn't that great. It's like, great it's, it's no sweat off your back. So if there is a area of the of the community or within, even if you're like, we can't use this specifically in my facility or at, you know, my center, but we would like to use it for this other family, like, we can either do the referral based. You can even get we just rolled out our promo codes where it can. You know, maybe your promo code is Kimberly and anybody that puts that in gets like two hours for free to try it out, and and that's something that we can definitely do.
Speaker 2:Um, but please, you know, if there or if there's something else. I know the rha got a hold of me. Um, the gentleman's name is bill and I can't remember his last name off the top of my head, but he said you know we have there's a lot more than than just debita and proscenius. Um, we have a huge network of small business dialysis operators that are really in need and can afford all this full-time staffing or, as we know, the turnover. You get five technicians trained and then they don't show up right when the shift starts or they like, you know, they're like, oh, I left my lights on and they never come back from turning off their lights and and so this way it's like well, it didn't cost you anything and if you really like them again, we are no contracts you really like that jasmine worked out for you. You can keep her.
Speaker 2:You know that's not a you're, you're just you're like oh, I would like to hire jasmine now because I am no longer. You know. I know she's a great worker, she's been trained and now I want to bring her on to the benefit side, but before that, we're hosting the workers comp and we're hosting the liability insurance. So again, it is a win-win for both situations. So please let me know if there's something that I can do to help in those areas. Alfredo joined us here. I'll do a real quick introduction of Alfredo. He is our territorial sales director and so he goes around and talks to the different facilities and communities and things like that, and so he's also somebody you know, somebody who can assist with those kinds of things. But anything on that end we're happy to help out. But again, thank you, kimberly, for having us and we'll open it up to those questions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, ask away, I know. One question that came up in the chat was is it only hemo or is it hemo and PD? And I know you guys do both. You don't do the training though, correct.
Speaker 2:So the one thing we don't do is the training. But we do have resources to have them trained. But a lot of what we've dived into is getting the people who are already trained. You know, the ad is out there for care partners who don't have anyone that their care partnering with anymore. They've either lost that loved one or, you know, like the story of the, the girlfriend and the boyfriend was, actually she broke up with him because it was just so much and and then she said what I could do this for somebody else? That's not an emotional attachment. And and then um. Aside from that, the cchts, um would already be ccht certified but when they go into, if it's a facility, they'll have to train on that specific facilities wants and desires yeah, yeah, that's all I just.
Speaker 1:I think it's such a fresh idea. It's this kind of common sense innovation that's really helping people live their best lives on dialysis, which that's what we're all about. Really, truly fantastic, great questions so far. What other questions do you ladies have? Looks like Stephanie has some questions.
Speaker 3:Looks like Stephanie has some questions. Yeah, I think I find it interesting looking into your website where it's not only related to dialysis and the assistance of that, but also just helping with different things like errands, I see, and cooking and meal prepping, because sometimes that is a big part of their lives too, where they're missing that assistance, and just having the availability to also be part of that I think that's very innovative. I don't think there's anything like that. I think usually people have to hire two separate people for that.
Speaker 2:Exactly Well. Thank you, stephanie. And I think in the beginning we talked about the way that we actually started was we were senior helpers and that's our branded name was for the caregivers to be helpers, and it was task and chore oriented. And then we had just, you know, people coming out being RNs hey, do you have anything for me? Because I can't work six to two every day, or two to 10 because I have kiddos, but I'm available with all my credentials from eight to three. And that's when we started partnering with just these more specialized Care needs.
Speaker 2:But we do still always want to stay non-medical, if you will, even though we have the CNAs. We do do the RD and the HHD, and so we we have those, but again, they will be trained elsewhere. They're not trained from us, but we can link to trainings. We have a full software engineer team. Again, we're not an agency, we are a technology and I always associate it, you know, like I said, with Bumble and Uber, because you get to choose what you want, you get to go through and you get to see exactly who you want If you're like oh, I want and I'll use myself, for example.
Speaker 2:If it's like well, I want a Hispanic female, because my mom only speaks Spanish and I want someone who can really give her that quality. And it's like, oh well, here's a care partner who's done dialysis. It looks like for other people and they want to be with someone who speaks Spanish. Well, now they can go out and they can go shopping together too, and it's not just oh, they only can do this. Then I need a housekeeper to do this and I need someone to help cook and do this, and so I think that we're trying to close and bridge that full care spectrum.
Speaker 1:That's really fantastic. So you know, as we, as we wrap up here, how do people because we'll be sharing how do people find you guys when they have questions and they want to know more? If they want to know, how do I add this to my benefit package for my my plan members? How do people reach?
Speaker 2:you? Yeah, so just you can go on herewithcom. Uh, that's. There's a form right on our website. Our dialysis landing page is what it's called will be built out, but again, you can reach us directly. Um, kimberly, you have all my contact information. I'll also put it in the chat. Again, like I said, we can also reach out if Alfredo needs to go to a specific. If there's something like hey, all these members are gathering here, we need to go talk about it in person. We're more than happy to do that. We're really just kind of an open gamut right now, whether that's telephone, the Zoom calls, or being in person. We're happy to travel to where we need to travel to, because this is one of those things where I do believe.
Speaker 2:You know, I've been with the company now almost three years. The company has been a company for six years and I just think that there's such a passion. I've always been in healthcare. Actually, kimberly and I live really close together and I was the director of the psychiatric hospital there. I've been in healthcare my entire life.
Speaker 2:I started out as an NA I don't think CNAs were actually a thing back in the day when I was about 15 years old.
Speaker 2:I've done everything from wiping tissues to being on the office side of things. It's a passion for me, everything from wiping tissues to, you know, being on the office side of things, and so it's. It's a passion for me and I I think that this is is life changing for a lot of people because it's affordable, and that's one of the biggest things is that it is very affordable. And and also people who care about other people, and it's a way to connect them because they're not getting somebody you know, outside of their, their community, we're not having somebody come in who's like, oh, I'm kind of in this, this is, this is kimberly going to, you know, care for nancy's mom, because they live right next to each other, in the same community, and and so we're really helping out that rural population also, or people who otherwise wouldn't seek help. Um, now they can do it from the swipe of their phone, and we are web-based iOS and Android, so it's sometimes it's a blend of both worlds where it's really that health tech piece, but again, all for the people.
Speaker 1:Ah, I just think it's delicious. And I know I've already been sharing you guys, with some folks that I work with, some patients, um, and family members have been sharing. I think it's a great resource to let people know about who might need that kind of support. If they uh mention that, you know, gosh, they would do home health or they would do sorry, they would do, uh, home dialysis, but they just they would need some help. Um, I think it's a fantastic resource. So, yeah, so. And stephanie's asking uh about standard rates yeah, so it's a standard caregiver rate, market rate, and I just like uber, right, the, the caregivers set that rate, the patient sets that rate for the patient sets the rate, they're sold.
Speaker 2:So, I mean, we, the only guideline we have, um, is that they have to come in at minimum wage. So, um, they. And then you know, like our, we have a full customer service center team, um, that will call as soon as you register for the app. If you come in as a family and I challenge everybody to do it I'm happy to get feedback too, of, hey, you know, this is a little glitchy for me or or, hey, this is confusing for me, cause that's our, we have a UX team that'll take that into consideration and say, oh, you know, stephanie had trouble coming on. Well, so would patients then, or so would families, and so we would have to look at that. But when you come in, it'll say, hey, set your budget. And if you say in, it'll say, hey, set your budget. And if you say, well, I know that I can do $25 an hour for three days a week, we only take 20% off of whatever the budget is. So when your ad goes live for caregivers to apply, they would only see $20 an hour, and that's what. That's what they would see. So, and we do have, you know, we, like I said, we're nationwide and so there is not a territory where we're not at. There is some places that we haven't dove into, of course, but if, if Kimberly comes to me and says, hey, I have a patient and they're in, you know, yuma, arizona, in the middle of nowhere, and there's like five people in the whole town, like, give me a week and we'll build out those caregivers within that area, because it usually takes about a week for me to get 100 caregivers in every zip code that we open up and that's what's been phenomenal is and we didn't see that side of it happening of any zip code we open up caregivers, just, I mean, they come in and of course, you know we get about, um, I would say monthly we get over a thousand applications but we only allow four to 500 in because they do have to be. We vet them.
Speaker 2:Like I said, we run the nationwide. It's through checker, so it's through a third party, not me being like, oh, I'm going to let her in, she's a friend, it's, it goes through checker. They do the nationwide search, they do the statewide search and the county wide search and and that is even above what you know, like your local health and welfare would do. And we do that because our insurance is for the whole nation and we want to make sure that these people are safe. And so, going back to the actual cost portion of it is it is whatever they set.
Speaker 2:The only time we would interfere is if it was below minimum wage or if it's like well, you know, you put the job out for because sometimes minimum wage is $7 an hour, you put the job out for 10. If you put it for 15, you may get higher quality of people that are going to want to go to that job, and so sometimes that happens within those different areas. If you're in New York and you put something for 15, you're probably not going to get any applications, you know, but they'll have to be at 25 to 30. Yeah, like I know, oh my gosh, I know Boise is just. Prices are ridiculous in Boise now, and so, yeah, I think that you know each different zip code is going to have its own quirks, if you will. It's almost like its own personality takes place.
Speaker 2:But again, we're happy to dive in and anywhere. We're pretty innovative on the tech side. I do have an entire engineering team, and so if something works for you and then we don't have it built and you're like, hey, this would work for me, we can do that integration with whatever it is that you have. And that's what makes us so ingenuitive is, like I said, we are a San Francisco-based company and so we're a technology team, and so that is what really sets us apart is, oh, we don't have it. I have a ton of Legos, let me build that for you, and so that's what really sets us apart.
Speaker 1:I think it's awesome so you can check them out here with just like it sounds h e r e with here withcom. Check them out and share. I think it's a fantastic, very common sense, innovative service that can really help improve the quality of people's lives across the country. So thank you for what you're doing and for spending time with us today much appreciated.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me kimberly. I appreciate. It okay, bye.