ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — Ann Arbor resident and retiree Darlene Wetzel was diagnosed with Parkinson's nearly three years ago.
"Parkinson's makes you unsteady on your feet, and I've fallen a lot, and that's what's wiped my knee out," said Wetzel.
The 68-year-old is now getting ready to undergo knee replacement surgery on July 12. But her biggest worry is post-surgical home care.
"Part of it was the price. They were asking a minimum of $35 per hour. And they wanted a longer-term contract and a certain amount of hours per week. And I don't need all those things... I just need someone to sleep here that I could call if I need someone in the night or if I need help with breakfast," said Wetzel.
Then a friend recommended Careyaya.
"I wanted to build the Uber of caregiving," said Neal Shah, the founder of CareYaya.
Shah says the online platform gives folks seeking home care easy and affordable options. And the best part is that the platform does not charge its users due to the financial backing it receives.
"There are two big benefits to that. Families book care through us online and they get a caregiver and pay them directly. And it's $15 an hour. So families pay mostly 40 to 50% less than the traditional care industry, and the caregiver makes 20% to 30% more," said Shah.
According to PBR.org, Michigan is ranked 14th nationwide for being home to residents older than 65. What's more, state data shows that the age group 55 and older is projected to increase by 14 percent by 2050, which leaves more and more folks needing affordable home care.
"A lot of seniors, as they have procedures done, could use inexpensive short-term help without going through an agency," said Wetzel.
And then there is another problem, the Caregiver Incentive Project says Michigan is now short of more than 34,000 caregivers. CareYaya is addressing the issue by allowing healthcare students to bridge the gap.
"Caregiving is such a great way to expose myself to learning bedside manner that I can use when I do go into the medical field as a doctor, and it provides one on one care," said Avery Schutz, a junior at the University of Michigan.
Schutz is one of the providers on CareYaya. In fact, the aspiring pediatrician will be Darlene's caregiver in the coming weeks.
"It's on demand, so there is no rigid schedule that I have to stick to. So its very flexible for the patient and for the caregiver," said Schutz.
"We do a lot of manual vetting. We verify university enrollment. So, in Michigan, it's only University of Michigan students for now. Then over time, we may expand to other universities. We also do one on one onboarding and vetting and the same vetting process with the families," said Shah.
Careyaya is only available in Ann Arbor, but the company says there are plans to roll it across metro Detroit very soon.
For more details, head visit: https://www.careyaya.org.
