A VC company is funding training for home health aides

Hey. Call your grandma lately? You didn’t, did you?

Now that you’re feeling guilty, here’s a little grandma-adjacent news: the VC company, Kairos, is paying 10k people who became unemployed during the pandemic to complete home health aide training.

These workers are more important than ever

Even before the pandemic, home health care was a booming industry. Here’s why:

• Americans turning 65 have a ~70% chance of needing some kind of senior care.
• Home health care reduces hospitalization rates, saving Medicare $378m+/year (not to mention patient preference) 

Since the pandemic, ~35% of Medicare enrollees have put off healthcare needs because they’re afraid of contracting COVID-19.

A trained caregiver can take vital signs, give medication reminders, and make sure the client is eating well and bathing.

And there’s plenty of room for more

Currently, there are 500k unfilled positions in the healthcare industry.

Home health aides earn ~$23k/year in base pay — comparable to what newly unemployed hotel, restaurant, and retail workers were making. And this training can be a stepping stone to higher-salaried careers, like licensed practical nurse ($47k/year) or registered nurse ($75k/year).

To help with the career  transitions, Kairos has partnered with the caregiver training startup, CareAcademy. Kairos foots the bill for participants to complete CareAcademy’s training. Afterward, participants can find work through CareAcademy’s placement partners. 

Now call your grandma, damnit.