Sam Johnson’s campaign to correct the “broken” way we deliver in-home care to NZ’s most vulnerable citizens
The model of community care is broken in New Zealand and the founder of Christchurch’s Student Volunteer Army, Sam
Johnson, is keen to fix it.
Speaking in his capacity of Mycare Head of Community at Tech Week in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 May, Sam will elaborate
on how technology is influencing the health care system in a positive way.
Mycare’s online platform, which has been dubbed the “Air BnB” of in-home care, is growing at 23% month on month. It’s
designed to help people look for personal care, disability and home help through an app on their phone or via the Mycare
website.
In 2016, Sam established WeVisit with fellow Cantabrian Dr Tyler Brummer, linking the elderly with young people keen to
volunteer their time to simply visit and chat. In 2017 WeVisit merged with Auckland-headquartered Mycare, which is
part-owned by Spark and features high profile directors Theresa Gattung and Mark Verbeist.
Sam’s Tech Week presentation will traverse the following:
• What we saw after the earthquakes, and in disasters around the world, is people’s natural interest in helping others.
Our structures of community mean we don’t easily do this outside of a disaster.
• In every street in NZ there is someone looking for some part time work. And in every street, there is someone who
needs some sort of home help or support.
• We are changing the way people can find helpers by using technology in a positive way.
• Tech week and the health focused Tech Day at the Sudima Hotel on Tuesday is a major event that draws together leaders
in health IT from around the country to consider: what does the future look like?
• My future is a utopian one where we coordinate people to help each other, not robots. Someone with Alzheimer's needs
human touch, not a robot playing cards with them.
• At the same time as NZ’s rest home sector is imploring government to “bring us new labourers from overseas”, Mycare’s
technology is effortlessly tapping into a massive network of people willing to do this work.
• The model is broken. The model is going to change.
• Families should not lose generations of wealth to 'licence to occupy' schemes. Families should be given the tools to
support each other.
• 90% of the money Mycare transacts goes to the person doing the work, not a corporation.
Tech Week Session 2: Social License – Will it really make a difference, 22 May (noon), Sudima Christchurch Airport
ends