CaringFamily receives 2nd major federal research grant from SBIR program
Bequest to study effects of the CaringFamily system on isolated elders and caregivers.
Louisville, CO — January 06, 2005: CaringFamily LLC today announced that it has secured Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding to investigate the effects of the company's system on elders living independently and their caregivers. This constitutes the second major grant the company has received to examine the social and commercial implications of CaringFamily's innovative new system for enhanced family communications and eldercare, and represents more market evidence of the real need the company's services intend to fill.
Concurrent with the company's upcoming commercial launch, research subjects will use CaringFamily's integrated, Internet-based system that, for the first time, seamlessly connects modern, 'wired' families with their offline aging loved ones, promoting enhanced quality of life for elders and their caregivers. The solution is based on the well-founded concept that isolated elders reap important health and longevity benefits from more frequent communication with family and other members of their social networks.
A new approach to inter-generational communications and support
As stated in the company's successful SBIR application: "The (CaringFamily) technology will make it possible for family members to communicate with elders using the Internet, without requiring the elders to operate or maintain a computer. It will also make it easier for family caregivers to share information and ideas among themselves, and increase the general level of communication within the family generally as well as to and from the elder. And it will make it easier for family caregivers to provide stimulating and useful information to the elder, helping to sustain health, activity and engagement. �CaringFamily technology (projects to) improve the lives of many elders, and the family members who share responsibility for their well-being, and make it possible for elders to live independently for a longer period."
Experts Supervise Research
CaringFamily's Scientific Advisory Board, a distinguished group of thought leaders in areas including gerontology, computer science, applied cognitive disability technology, and other areas, will supervise the research, to be completed in phases. In Phase I, a select group of research subjects and control groups will be designated by the SAB over the next few months in preparation for the six-month investigation.
Paul Davoust, CaringFamily CEO, remarked: "This endorsement from the SBIR is further evidence that the CaringFamily solution is an idea whose time has come. Our preliminary field-testing, and the previous major grant we've secured from NIDRR, suggests that elders and their families stand to reap tremendous benefit from an offering that, finally, unites them digitally - in ways the personal computer has failed to do. We're excited that the SBIR program has chosen to support our efforts to demonstrate both the important social and substantial commercial impacts our solution promises." 
About the SBIR program
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, established by the Small Business Technology Transfer Act of 1992, is a set-aside program for domestic US small business concerns to engage in Research/Research and Development (R/R&D) that has the potential for commercialization. The SBIR Program objectives include using small businesses to stimulate technological innovation, strengthening the role of small business in meeting Federal R/R&D needs, and fostering and encouraging participation by socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns and women-owned business concerns in the SBIR program.
About CaringFamily
CaringFamily provides the first service that brings the therapeutic benefits of family communications to elder care. The service enables assisted living and other care professionals to encourage active dialog between seniors in their care and their families, regardless of location-every day, with virtually no additional effort. Scientific studies point to dramatic therapeutic outcomes from such communications, including enhanced physical and mental health and, ultimately, longer life spans—as well as substantial profitability gains for the senior care companies that provide it. Located in Louisville, CO, CaringFamily is privately held. More information is available at www.caringfamily.com.
To contact us for more information:
CaringFamily, LLC
1003 Turnberry Cir
Louisville, CO 80027-9594
303-442-2607
