Cariloop, a Dallas-based startup that provides services and tools that help families plan for and manage the care of aging loved ones, has formed a partnership with Dallas Area Parkinsonism Society.
The partnership allows DAPS members to access Cariloop’s services at a discounted rate and take part in educational resources and opportunities.
Jeryn Laengrich, chief service officer and senior vice president of Cariloop, knows firsthand about the challenge of caring for loved ones dealing with Parkinson’s.
“Both my parents have faced this diagnosis,” she said. “So I know the importance of planning, seeking knowledge and building a support network. Our hope is to relieve stress for families in the midst of a physically and emotionally exhausting situation.”
Laengrich spoke with me recently about the partnership:
Why are you and Cariloop interested in partnering with Dallas Area Parkinsonism Society? It’s a personal, professional and a business reason for me. My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in his late 50s. He has since passed. My mother was diagnosed in her 60s. From a professional standpoint, I am also a licensed speech pathologist, and I’ve been in health care for over 25 years. I worked with people with this and other neurological diseases over the course of my professional career. And then businesses come out of the need to help people, especially in the health care space.
Is this the first partnership of this type for Cariloop? This is the first one looking at disease-specific groups or organizations that have a built-in need for care coordination, for collaboration, providing them with someone that they can communicate with personally to help them. DAPS has about 350 members. If you look at the number of people with Parkinson’s, it’s about 1 to 1.5 percent of the general population.
When did the partnership begin? It actually began in March, but we decided to kick it off officially because April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month. What better way to say ‘We’re working together.’” And DAPS looks at providing Cariloop to their members as an added value. They provide exercise, they provide support groups, but they don’t have something that will actually help guide their members and help them manage the disease.
What types of decisions are you helping people with Parkinson’s, or their families, make? We’ve got a younger onset person in their 50s or 60s who has been diagnosed for a couple of years, and they’re seeing a general neurologist. They’re struggling at work, they don’t know if they need to go on disability. We help patients find a doctor who really specializes in Parkinson’s, and help them with the questions to ask their physicians about the disease. Are they asking them everything they really need to when they have their 20 or 30 minutes with the specialist. Are they able to continue to work? What are reasonable accommodations for them under the Americans with Disabilities Act? What can they do to remain active? What are some of the care provider groups their loved ones can go to? Do they need home health caregivers to come in and augment the care the family can provide? Do they have the financial means to do that?