Populations across the globe are aging, living longer and are becoming increasingly vulnerable. As they age, they often require help from caregivers who are often family members or friends in the working force. These caregivers often put their own life aside to help the people they love, leading to increased fatigue & isolation. To face this growing societal problem, numerous companies were created in the past decade but the majority of them have disappeared today. Big companies also looked for solutions that could open up new avenues of profit, but they have failed to reach the market despite the increasing demand. Why?
Big companies have tried to approach this market from a top-down strategy, where the medical community has the authority to make recommendations and formalize needs. Perhaps this was a mistake. The “decision-maker” may not be the medical profession or the health establishments but rather the anonymous caregivers. They are the ones who face the problem on a daily basis. They are the ones who accumulate distress and exhaustion.
The same is true of governments and insurances which only think in political and financial terms with measures and visions that are sometimes outdated and completely outside the desired framework. Given the displayed costs, and the evolution of this “silent disease”, no action has been taken to respond to these ill-defined and often misunderstood distresses.
However, when we analyze the Buurtzorg model or the Magnet hospitals, we see that there may be alternative solutions to care where the approach is focused on human well-being. This proved to be beneficial for the nurses as well as the patients as observed with improved care, decreased drug intake and finally lower medical expenses.
In all of the company’s decisions, the caregiver (medical and family) and the recipient of the care must be at the center of the business model. It is by starting from the root of the problem that we will find the best answers to the multitude of individual needs.
One way to tackle this would be to rely on collective intelligence to identify each person’s need. A blog seems to be the best first approach because it allows people to share experiences and provides mutual assistance when confronted with these harsh realities.
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