When we’re young, we rarely think about what will happen to our parents as they grow older. Instead, perhaps we think of them as superheroes or larger-than-life figures who won’t ever age, suffer from illnesses or need extra support.

But as we grow and experience life, we realize that just isn’t the case. They age, their health can decline, and they sometimes suffer from various aging-related challenges and health disorders. So, what happens when they do?

The Realization

Jeff Reitberger is the co-founder of iAccompany, a MedTech start-up in the Ascent stage of the North Forge Founders Program. Jeff Recalls a time that he and his wife found themselves in this exact situation:

“My wife and her sister did a lot of care management for her mother when she was in her mid-80s with several chronic diseases. They spent a lot of time taking her to doctor’s appointments and to the specialists that she had to see for the ailments that she had. And my wife said, ‘it sure would be nice if there was a company that provided this service. I’d be willing to pay for it.’

It eats up so much time, she’s always been a billable consultant, and it was impacting her income – so I said, ‘That’s a great idea!’

At the same time, one of my workout partners was in a similar situation with his mother, who was aging and quite ill, so we talked about it and realized there might be something we should explore here. We did some discovery and a deep dive on healthcare statistics from Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, and we said to each other, ‘Yeah, there’s a lot here – let’s do something about it.'”

And so the Idea for iAccompany was Born.

With the realization that there was indeed a problem to solve, iAccompany designed a solution and, through a custom-built application, can now facilitate interactions between the patient, doctor, and nursing professionals to improve the quality of medical appointments significantly. In addition, their team of qualified professional nurses (BN, RN, LPN) provides exceptional one-on-one care and assistance to aging parents or loved ones. And along with that, peace of mind.

The Goals

Jeff remembers thinking about the initial concept: “When we started planning this service, the goal was to improve appointment outcomes for aging adults, family members, and loved ones because we knew that incomplete information results in less effective treatment. So if you get it all right at the start and have that report at your disposal to refer to at any time, it makes for better outcomes with much more clarity.”

“So many aging adults don’t get the proper diagnosis or treatment, and many forget what happened at the appointment earlier that day or the next day. They often don’t know anything about the prescription or how it’s to be taken. Is it with food, or is it without food – what about your diet, exercise, sleep patterns?”

So initially, the main goal was to help with that. There was a great desire to improve the outcomes and make things easier for the aging adults, family members, and caregivers.

How Does iAccompany Work?

The core operations of the iAccompany service are supported by a custom-built software application, available on the company website and in a mobile device app.

“You can either go to our website and log on, or download a mobile app for Apple or Android, log on, click book an appointment, and then fill in some information to create an account. And we’ve got that step in there as a quality assurance check – we want to ensure we can offer the service you may need. If they have some unique malady that the nurses have never been exposed to because it occurs in, you know, three people in a million, then we may not offer that service. We don’t want to offer a service if we can’t provide the proper outcome,” Jeff explained.

“Once our relationship manager looks at the new account and approves it, a note goes back to the account holder – presumably that’s an adult child or the patient. The other piece is for the nurses; we have a separate application for the nurses where they can log the appointment times that they are available for, and we’ll match those appointments to their availability and skill set. They can then book as many appointments as they like to supplement their income. So there are great benefits for nurses too.”

“We maintain the report history through a secure platform, and we’ll make sure we’re capturing the right data from those patients. We’ve talked to some experts in this area at Seven Oaks hospital and some researchers about the kind of data we should collect. There will be no identities associated with the data. It’ll just be basic information – but we’ll have the history to help follow and analyze prescriptions, applications, schedules, and of course, you will see the skill sets used, the trends associated with different age groups etc.”

The Pivot

Initially, they planned to focus on the home market of Manitoba, with an emphasis on Winnipeg. But plans change. The comprehensive government-backed health support we have here in MB greatly benefits the nearly 1.4 million residents. So they found it challenging to sell a new healthcare service that wasn’t funded by Manitoba’s healthcare system.

“We have identified seven channels we could get clients from; parents, companies, doctors, clinics, pharmacies, labs, transporters, indigenous and we’ve pivoted to focus almost exclusively on the indigenous population at this point. I’m an indigenous entrepreneur, and I think it’s a great service for individuals in the north, and I would like to give back to my community, ” Jeff explained.

“We’re also talking to a company called TIPI; TIPI is an indigenous-owned insurance broker, headquartered here in Winnipeg, and they have offices across Canada. We’d like to get our service covered under a benefit package, like an employee assistance program. So we have done a bit of a pivot to focus almost exclusively on the indigenous community. Once we have the correct business model, it’ll be easily transferable into Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.”

iAccompany and the Founders Program

iAccompany has found the benefits and support from the program to be, in a word, immeasurable. He described how he came to learn about the Founders Program with a smile: “I was talking to a buddy of mine, the former CEO of National Leasing in Winnipeg, about this idea because he’s a pretty smart guy! He informed me about a great incubator program located in the Smart Park at the University of Manitoba and a woman named Joelle Foster who runs it. He knew her well and advised me to talk to her.’ So I did. I just phoned her up, and she is fantastic.”

“I’ve learned so much in the Founders program. The one thing we knew when we started was that we didn’t know a lot. We needed a lot of help. I have received great support from North Forge, especially the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence – I wish there were more of them,” Jeff said.

“I can’t measure the amount of quality advice I’ve received from the people at North Forge. It truly is immeasurable. It’s been fantastic. Joelle, the support staff, and the three EIRs I work with are a great group – they’re all great. I could not be happier.”

“I’m also pleasantly surprised at the depth and breadth of the people associated with North Forge who can help you. I’ve been quite impressed by it,” Jeff remarked.

Jeff went on to explain in more detail some of his favourite parts of the program:

“One of the things I look forward to most is the ability to exchange ideas with other founders. Every six weeks or so, we have a 2-hour roundtable, and that is a valuable opportunity to sit down and listen to your colleagues about the challenges that they’re facing. So often somebody has experienced something similar to you, and they’ve done this, or they met with these people, or they’re in contact with this organization, and it forms part of the solution that you’re looking for.”

The help, support, and mentoring have significantly contributed to the success of iAccompany. Jeff also had some tips for other founders who might want to apply and become part of the program:

“I think we had a pretty clear idea of what we wanted to do – we didn’t know how to do it – but we had a pretty clear idea of what we wanted to do. I think you have to as a founder; otherwise, you will go down too many rabbit holes. It’s OK to pivot, but you don’t want to be doing that every couple of months because if you are, I think you’re on the wrong track. So be clear about what you want to accomplish.”

What’s on the Horizon for iAccompany?

The future looks very bright for Jeff and his team – and the evolution of iAccompany continues. The initial forecasts were strong, and they knew they were onto something. However, the comprehensive medical support we enjoy here in MB has impacted their plans – it’s almost too good.

“We initially identified five cities in Canada and five in the US that we wanted to expand into, and we wanted to do that concurrently,” Jeff explained.

A review of the situation has led to a shift in planning; along with an emphasis on Manitoba’s indigenous population. The iAccompany team will also begin to focus on the southern US. Jeff explained it this way:

“We decided to focus on the US, specifically Florida, because of the large population of retirees who would be potential patients. Our clients will be their adult children who mostly live in the northeastern US and the Midwest, so we need to reach them. Our service is perfect for adult children who want to be part of their retirement healthcare. We will also concentrate on the services to indigenous clients here and in Western Canada.”

Next Steps:

If you’d like to know more about iAccompany.ca or Jeff’s experience in the Founders Program, he would welcome the opportunity to discuss further: “I’m happy to talk to anybody who is happy to talk to me!”

Jeff Reitberger can be reached at: jreitberger@iaccompany.ca or via phone at 204-797-4696.

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