West Bend native Laura Hillman Mitchell played a star witness role in Congress Wednesday as she pitched the use of technology to keep seniors living longer in their homes.
After declaring, “Our nation is in an aging crisis,” Mitchell asked a U.S. Senate special committee on aging, “Why should technology activate (such as fall detectors) only after something goes wrong?
“The good news is that today we have technology tools to shift focus from reactive care (of elders) to proactive, predictive and preventive support.”
Mitchell is CEO of GrandCare, a company started in West Bend in 2005 by her parents, Charles and Gaytha Traynor Hillman. It was a pure startup backed by local angel investors, including the Ramsthal, Ziegler and Prescott families.
Charles Hillman, an MIT graduate, wrote the initial software to connect senior citizens with their families and caretakers via touchscreens in their homes. It had added unobtrusive sensors in the homes to monitor health safety indicators like medicines not taken, a kitchen not used, or vital metrics out of normal limits.
Alerts go to family caretakers and healthcare professionals.
The Hillman family flew to Washington D.C. to support CEO Laura Hillman Mitchell as she testified in the U.S. Senate on technology advance for senior caretaking . From left to right: Son Avery Mitchell, nephew Baxter Johanski, Laura Hillman Mitchell, Gaytha Traynor Hillman, Charlie Hillman. Photo by Katie Hillman Johanski
One major objective of the GrandCare system is to proactively prevent falls. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida), chairman of a subcommittee on falls, cited research that put the costs of falls by seniors at $80 billion per year. One in four seniors has experienced a dangerous fall.
Mitchell’s response was, “So why wait for a fall? There are available and affordable assistive technologies that can help us identify factors and red flag symptoms to protect and empower our aging population.”
A major issue in caring for golden agers is a severe shortage of staffing. The GrandCare system allows remote monitoring of elderly clients so that a caretaker can serve a half dozen clients instead of one-on-one service.
Sen. Scott, a former businessman and governor of Florida, took the position that technology advances should be able to cut costs sharply for Medicare and Medicaid. He offered to help GrandCare and other elderly providers make that case to the leaders of Medicare.
The healthcare industry has always been slow to adopt economic innovation, so GrandCare has found a new market that has sharply improved its growth outlook. It is deploying its touch screen software for the care of disabled Americans.
Younger clients with disabilities have a stronger appetite for technology assistance that allows them to be more independent. Unlike many seniors, younger and middle-aged disabled people are accustomed to using smartphones and computers
GrandCare is still a family intensive business. Nick Mitchell, Laura’s husband, took over the chief technology role from founder Charlie Hillman. In a response to a recent growth spurt Charlie and Gaytha are again working in the business on the customer service side. The company recently hired a veteran IT executive as head of sales.
The appearance before the U.S senate committee was prompted by GrandCare’s reputation for expertise in dealing with the obvious benefits for the person and society of keeping seniors in their homes. Assisted living facilities charge $8000 or more per month, which many seniors can’t afford.
In 2025 an estimated average of 11,400 Americans turned 65 every day. Approximately 73 million baby boomers are 65 and over, more than a fifth of the U.S. population.
This old geezer has taken eight falls as a treatment side-effect in the eight years since overcoming stage four prostate cancer. Two of them were serious.
Preventing falls has to be a serious undertaking. My wife and I have equipped our house with stairlifts and walkers on each floor. We have each other, but many seniors are on their own. That’s where GrandCare and its technologies step in.
Here‘s Mitchell’s vision: “Let’s reimagine aging in America, not as a loss of independence, but as an opportunity for personal growth, purpose and the ability of our greatest generation to live life on their own terms.”
(Torinus an investor and director for GrandCare)
