Project Overview
Thread.care is a new and innovative app that collects our elders’ life story. It's the simplest way for aged care facility staff to connect with their Resident community on a personalised basis. We believe humans connect through story and Thread.Care is here to create that connection.
Organisation
Team
Richard Clark and Matt Gardan are the directors and co-founders of Thread.Care.
Richard Clark is the Founder and CEO of the Thread.Care app and joint owner and Managing Director of the professional genealogical firm Worthington Clark Pty Ltd. Previously a Director of outsourced IT and Telecommunications networks, Richard’s Thread.Care passion is helping uncover, record and connect through the amazing stories of our elders.
Matt Gardan joined Richard to begin working on this start up in mid-2016. They witnessed the potent power of story to connect people after a brief piece of biographical research for a woman turning 100 had such an impact on all those attending her birthday.
Matt’s career spans 25 years and three continents. He has worked in global advertising firms, for famous FMCG brands, and some of Australia’s largest companies.
Both founders see Thread.Care as a tech start up addressing a problem in the Aged Care sector. This distinction allows them to approach the sector in a significantly different way to other companies in the space.
Thread.Care's art director, Kurt Walsh, played a pivotal role in bringing the app to where it is today. We also has a dedicated team of historians and researchers that bring to life our residents stories.
Project Brief
Thread.Care was born from an observation - as humans we’re hardwired towards stories. We crave them, learn from them; they bring us closer together. We believe (and early customers are proving it) that carers & residents connect on a much deeper level through story. When you know a Resident’s background story, they stop being that grumpy old person and they become Max, who misses his wife who died recently and spent his life making a real difference for dyslexic kids.
Our app is an enabler for better care, and we’ve seen it help Facilities provide more coherent and consistent care. Human care, the kind that’s desperately needed in the sector today. We need to move from focus on medication and meals to caring for people. People with wisdom, incredibly interesting lives, and a whole range of interests and passions.
Thread.care allows users to easily document a Resident’s life story, and to help facilities quickly record activities and events occurring on a day to day basis. This allows families to remain connected to their loved ones, and reassured they are receiving appropriate care.
We’ve invested considerably in user experience and world class user interface design, as well as our secret: a team of dedicated historians and researchers. They take Residents’ biographical information and unearth archival imagery and pertinent documentation relating to their lives.
Everyone has a story to tell, we’re helping our elders tell theirs.
Project Need
Thread.care was born from two main observations. The first, as mentioned previously, humans are hardwired to tell, listen to and engage with stories. Second, there is a clear lack of connection and appropriate information to create meaningful connections between Residents and their carers in most aged care facilities. We believe that with storytelling being part of our human nature, Thread.care can fill the gap of providing carers with the stories and context they need to build meaningful connections and provide client-centred care.
User Experience
Thread.care has always placed the users experience as a priority. This is evident in our industry leading elegant design, that flows in an intuitive way for users of all ages and tech literacy.
The experience of the users has been extremely positive so far. We found that with our focus on user experience, from the very beginning of this project, our users, of all ages and tech literacy, have exceedingly engaged with the platform. As a result there have been notable changes in the behaviour of carers and residents using the platform. For example carers are able to see beyond the ‘grumpy old man’ and understand that Max has just lost his wife of 60 years. Additionally, they were able to engage with him more deeply after finding out about his lifelong passion for helping kids with dyslexia. Residents on the other hand feel as though they are better understood and treated with more dignity. This has all been attributed to the way Thread.care has stimulated person-centred care and even encouraged friendships.
A secondary outcomes achieved through Thread.care is increased workplace moral. Carers, who are generally time poor and caring individuals, are now able to quickly get to know their patients and provide care that is more person-centred, the care that they have always wanted to provide. This has given them better workplace satisfaction and boosted moral.
Project Marketing
Our primary marketing push has been via sales calls and industry specific conferences. This project began as a B2B solution. Recently we listed the app on the App Store and are soon to start consumer directed marketing communications. However for the time being we only have a small social media presence.
Project Privacy
We know how important information security and privacy are to our users. Our data management, storage and security protocols adhere to best-in-class standards.
We do not collect any medical, financial or other potentially sensitive data about any of our Residents. Unlike Facebook, or other social media platforms, NONE of the data on Thread.Care is accessible to the public.
All Thread.Care accounts are password protected. A family account allows users to view their loved one’s profile and submit moments to their timeline. Moments added via family accounts are reviewed by the facility to ensure they are appropriate for your loved one to enjoy.
Digital - Family
Apps have an enormous impact on our family lives - from the games we play, parenting guides, researching our family tree, childhood development and education to even looking after our pets. We're looking for apps for use in our family lives - whether it be work, rest or play.
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