Noticing a lack of home caregiving services for the Republic’s elderly population when she returned last year after living abroad for 15 years, Ms Gillian Tee decided that technology could help plug the gap.
Together with two partners, she co-founded Homage — an on-demand home care business matching caregivers to ailing seniors — in the middle of last year.
Homage offers a buffet of services that can be booked online — from assistance in daily life such as companionship or buying groceries, to medical care including tube feeding and wound cleaning.
Its number of caregivers swelled from 10 to 20 in May last year to more than 300 now. More than half have a nursing background.
Homage is Ms Tee’s first start-up in Singapore. Prior to that, the 35-year-old studied and worked — first as a technology consultant and later as a tech entrepreneur — in Australia and the United States.
Homage also offers former nurses the option to work part-time, but Ms Tee stressed its services go beyond medical care. Some families require a caregiver to help their loved ones with daily activities such as bathing or preparing meals after being discharged from hospital.
Homage was featured in the recent National Day Rally, and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the start-up was doing well as it had managed to tap information technology to match demand with supply — similar to taxi or car-hire applications.
Having spent years abroad, Ms Tee noticed a lack of data usage for predictive healthcare in Singapore. “A lot of what we do has been reactive. With technology, we can … (engage in) prevention rather than mitigation.”
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Source: TODAYonline, 21 August 2017