App developed in Waterloo Region aims to ease burden on family caregivers

A made-in-Waterloo app could help take some of the stress away from caregivers. CTV’s Spencer Turcotte explains how.

A Waterloo Region tech company is hoping to make life easier for the millions of people caring for aging parents and relatives.

Elderella, a caregiving app developed by Waterloo Region entrepreneurs Mike Kirkup and Jacqui Murphy, is designed to help families organize appointments, medications, documents and daily tasks in one place while sharing updates with relatives and other caregivers. The platform offers both free and paid subscription options.

“As Canada’s population ages, more families are finding themselves in a caregiving role,” Kirkup said.

According to the company, one in four people now provide care for someone in their life, and that number expected to rise as the population continues to age.

Kirkup and Murphy said the idea for Elderella grew out of the challenges many families face when trying to coordinate care while balancing jobs, children and other responsibilities.

“You’re trying to work full-time and you’re providing care for your aging parents and something’s got to give,” Murphy said.

The app acts as a centralized hub where caregivers can store medical information, medication lists, appointments and reminders. Family members can be invited to access information and share responsibilities. The platform also uses artificial intelligence to organize caregiving information and generate tasks and care updates.

“We can actually access those messages,” Kirkup said, describing how the system can pull caregiving information from conversations conducted through messaging platforms, with user permission.

Users can also upload photos, voice notes and documents or record information from doctor appointments and phone calls, which the app then organizes into daily caregiving tasks.

“You’re not alone”

“What we really want to do is emphasize the fact that you’re not alone as a primary caregiver,” Murphy said. “It shouldn’t be too hard for you to ask for help or to delegate some of the things that you have on your plate to others.”

For Brent Thornton, who helps care for his parents while living about an hour away, the ability to coordinate with family members has been one of the platform’s biggest benefits.

“Without Elderella in this scenario, I’m probably managing a seventh shared calendar and trying to share out notes from my Google Drive, maybe trying to rely too much on my failing memory,” Thornton said.

The company recently launched a global study examining whether this sort of technology can reduce caregiver stress and improve care coordination. The study is supported by funding from the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI). Participants will receive complimentary access to Elderella Premium for one year while researchers evaluate the platform’s impact on caregivers.

People interested in participating in the study can learn more through Elderella’s caregiver study page.