Valtes is the third of eight finalists for the National Care Innovation Award. The company developed an app to support family caregivers. Or rather, for people who "just care for another person.
Erjen Derks, one of the founders and CEO, thinks it's high time informal caregivers got the attention they deserve. "A lot of attention, time and energy goes into formal care. At the same time, you see that the entire care landscape leans heavily on people who have to combine work, parenting and their volunteer work with caring for a loved one or acquaintance."
Valtes' app is all about "anyone who cares for another. "With a small onboarding of four questions, we provide you with relevant articles, relevant tips and experience stories that fit your background based on your personal circumstances."
"There is also general information available. An example is the conversation with the employer. How do you indicate that you are a family caregiver and what are the consequences of that for you? A lot of people find it difficult to have that conversation."
Stories of Experience
According to Derks, 85 percent of information from municipalities does not get to the right place, in the right context, to the right person. "We are trying to fill that gap. We also work with patient associations and employer organizations, for example. We unlock their informative articles in our in our database, as well as experience stories, for example."
App for caregiver support
Right now, Valtes is busy putting the finishing touches on the app. Derks hopes that the first users can start using the app in early April. They have been developing for a year now and are doing so with their own money. "We are doing bootstrapping so we have no external loans or external investors," he says.
"It's nice that four municipalities are contributing in advance because they really believe in supporting the caregiver with the app. They have paid a contribution to start rolling out the app in their municipality. Residents of the municipalities of Assen, Tynaarlo, Aa en Hunze and Midden-Drenthe will receive information from their own municipality right from the start. In addition, we have received a contribution from Stichting Achmea Gezondheid Fonds. That is from Zilveren Kruis."
Data dashboard
Everyone in the Netherlands will soon be able to download the app for free and have access to general information. Derks hopes that many municipalities will catch on to provide targeted information to the family caregivers among their residents.
"That gives us the financial ability to continue rolling out and developing the app. We provide the municipalities that join with a data dashboard. This gives them relevant policy information at a meta-level. For example, you can then indicate that 30 percent of informal caregivers in a particular municipality care for people with noncongenital brain injury. The municipality can in turn adjust policy accordingly and set up additional support to help this category of informal caregivers further."
Tip for starters
Derks doesn't have to think long about a tip for other startups. "Talk a lot with users and potential clients. As Valtes, we took six months to really talk to family caregivers themselves. We wanted to get the problem clear and know exactly what they were up against. We also talked to policy advisers, consultants, welfare workers, care administrators, aldermen and you name it. We wanted to see sharply where each person's responsibility lies."
Communication Strategy
What will he use the money for if he wins? "We're busy right now with our communication strategy. You really have to connect with the language and experience of the end user. And not address them in advance as caregivers, but as someone who is busy with all kinds of things and also 'just' caring for his father."
"We want to reach caregivers in their own environment. And are working on a communication campaign with sports clubs, libraries, care institutions, general practitioners and welfare organizations, as well as a few supermarkets. We can put the prize money to good use for that."
More languages
Once Valtes' app is soon live, further development in other languages will follow. By summer, Derks hopes to offer the app in seven languages commonly spoken in the Netherlands. After that comes the rest of Europe. "Those municipalities, of course, are specific to the Netherlands. But throughout Europe there are more than 120 million informal caregivers who run into many of the same things. How wonderful it would be if we could soon reach all of them."
Right now, he's just really happy about the nomination. "I love that it's coming now, after just one year. We did talk once about a nomination hoping to achieve it within five years. Really nice that we can put family caregivers on the stage regionally and soon during Care & ict nationally, whether we win or not."
Careinnovation.comwill award the National Healthcare Innovation Prize for the ninth time in 2024 for the most innovative healthcare innovation in the scale-up phase. Participants have a chance to win the professional jury prize worth 10,000 euros and the public prize worth 5,000 euros. The eight finalists will be announced in the coming weeks. They will pitch during theHealth Valley Eventon March 21 their healthcare innovation in front of an expert professional jury. Voting for the public award is open from March 20 to April 3. The winners will be announced on April 10 duringCare & ict, part of Dutch Health Week. The finalists will receive a spot on the Heart of Health square during this event.
