Say “Joda!” (Yes indeed!) with JodaCare
With this app, families of patients with memory loss can stay up-to-date on their healthcare
Photo courtesy of JodaCare
The app lets families keep up with the care their memory-impaired relatives are receiving.
Rasmus Falck
Oslo, Norway
Kristil Erla Håland became an entrepreneur when her mother got sick. Her mother is an Alzheimer’s patient and lives at home with healthcare workers coming to her house. Håland was missing information about her mother’s daily activities, and suddenly she needed to know if her mother was doing well.
Håland had a background in sales. When she started working for a digital communication system for kindergartens two years ago, she got the idea to create a system for patients who have lost their memory. The idea was an app that connects health institutions with families so they can share appointments in a calendar and send messages back and forth.
She partnered up with Elin Sunde Wilberg who has developed several applications for established companies and entrepreneurs and has a passion for welfare technology and the Internet of Things.
Just before Easter two students from NTNU’s School of Entrepreneurship expressed interest in helping to build the company to become a successful business. One of them has a bachelor’s degree in International Marketing, and the other holds a BA in Economics with a specialization in Business and Administration. They have both worked as care workers in home care for several years and are therefore very concerned with eHealth and welfare technology.
Håland explains that her mother will call and tell her that she has not received visits that day. “‘Joda,’ I say, and tell what I have read in JodaCare about her day. You have been visited by the healthcare worker. He made meatballs for dinner for you. ‘Oh yes’ says my mother. Now she remembers that he was there,” says Håland.
When you have a close relative in this situation, you need information about everyday things like what’s happening in the nursing home on the weekend, how his day at work training went, and who was at her house last night. The app provides predictability in everyday life.
Healthcare workers meet relatives often. With JodaCare, you can be assured that their expectations of you and the service you provide are met in a satisfactory manner. You will be kept well informed through a digital contact book.
The company was started last summer. They received 600,000 NOK in funding from Innovation Norway and 250 hours of mentoring from Driv Incubator, a specialist in commercialization of business ideas within healthcare. They have presented the company at the Connect Spring Board, and Prime Minister Erna Solberg has even visited them.
The startup is located at Asker Hus just west of Oslo. The municipality of Asker has been part of the pilot project, and the two entrepreneurs hope to have ten municipalities on the customer list by the end of the year.
Rasmus Falck is a strong innovation and entrepreneurship advocate. The author of “What do the best do better” and “The board of directors as a resource in SME,” he received his masters degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He currently lives in Oslo, Norway.
This article originally appeared in the June 3, 2016, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.
