East Liberty startup brings neutral voice to task of selecting a senior care facility
Adapting to senior housing can be daunting, but Jennie Johnson knew someone who did it well.
And not only adapt, either. Ms. Johnson said her husband’s elderly grandfather, Sidney Axinn, flourished in the 13 years he lived in a continuing care retirement community in Haverford, Pa., before dying last year at age 95. Mr. Axinn, a retired philosophy professor, was active in a number of ways in the community, including recruiting guest speakers.
What was the secret, Ms. Johnson, 34, wondered.
“He was so engaged in that community,” she said. “He found this great fit.”
The questions were the germ for a startup company called Atlas Retirement LLC that Ms. Johnson co-founded a year ago with Kim Cooperrider, 29. They quickly decided that objectivity would be Atlas’ differentiator in the market.
Picking the right senior living arrangement can be daunting, said Amy Goyer, author and family and caregiving expert at Washington, D.C.-based AARP, who has written about the issue.
“Very often, they’re not educated about the options out there,” Ms. Goyer said about people who undertake the search for senior living arrangements. “It’s a challenge for people to find that objectivity.”
Atlas Retirement is a software platform that lists every senior living facility in Pennsylvania, complete with consumer comments, financial data and other information to help consumers find the best fit.
The company eventually plans to expand the listing to include every senior care facility in the country.
Lots of websites offer some of the same stuff.
The Atlas team believes what sets its platform apart is that it isn’t paid by the facilities listed. It also doesn’t employ coaches to direct consumers to any one housing choice, which is common.
In Allegheny County alone, the choices for senior living abound: 62 nursing homes, 127 personal care homes, five assisted living facilities, 17 continuing care retirement communities and a dozen independent living communities, Ms. Johnson said.
Paul Winkler, president and CEO of Presbyterian SeniorCare in Oakmont, said the choices can overwhelm families.
“It’s all very confusing,” Mr. Winkler said. “Understanding the range of services in a residential setting could really help people to stay independent.”
Atlas’ business plan is to generate revenue by this fall through a program where a facility that is automatically placed in the listings is given the opportunity to pay to have embedded marketing videos and pictures to make the listing more appealing and informational.
“You don’t pay to be on the platform,” said Ms. Johnson, a Blue Bell, Pa., native and Carnegie Mellon University graduate who majored in mathematics.
The listings are drawn from state government sources. So is financial information in the case of continuing care retirement communities, which is an insurance product.
Ms. Johnson and Ms. Cooperrider, a University of Pittsburgh computer science graduate who grew up an eight-minute drive from Ms. Johnson in Montgomery County, are Atlas’ only employees.
The two women have raised $170,000 from family and friends while contemplating a formal funding round for the company, which has not yet generated a profit.
The company is housed at the AlphaLab small business accelerator in East Liberty.