This is the second post in a series highlighting the alumni of the 2014 Fast Forward accelerator.
It is customary in India for the whole family to accompany a loved one to the hospital, where overburdened nurses care for seven or more patients at a time. Following discharge, patients and families return to home environments with a poor understanding of how to adequately monitor their health. From these observations, two Stanford grad students created Noora Health as a class project. Now an international nonprofit, Noora Health provides multimedia training and content to turn family members into active caregivers who can help their loved ones monitor their health both in the hospital and at home. Katy Ashe, Co-Founder and Chief Design Officer at Noora Health, updated Fast Forward on their progress this year.
2015 learnings
This year, Noora Health built up a critical mass of awareness around interventions. We now have a pipeline and a wait list of hospitals and providers who are eager to work with us. Our successful pilots in India led us to focus our growth there.
We are particularly interested in expanding to new provider types including government providers and for-profit hospitals beyond the social mission hospital chains where we’ve established our programs. Our goal is for Noora Health’s end users to consist of at least 50% of people living below the poverty line. Because government facilities predominantly serve impoverished populations, they will be important new partners for us moving forward.
Progress since Fast Forward
The breadth of our training has broadened significantly. During the Fast Forward accelerator, we provided training for caring for cardiac surgery patients only. Now we also have programs in place for caring for those who have had general surgery and for oncology and neonatology. We will soon launch a standalone program for diabetes. To prioritized which conditions to tackle next, we’ve developed a ranking algorithm that provides our roadmap for impact.
Most significant benefit of Fast Forward
The bonds Noora Health formed with the other tech nonprofit organizations in the cohort have made a big difference. We have been able to support one another—recommending each other for fellowships and getting each other into grant pipelines. The word of one social entrepreneur vouching for another is powerful in our ecosystem. Now we are speakers on the same stages.
Evidence for tech nonprofit sector growth
There are many more people in the tech community who are becoming philanthropists who haven’t before. And these are people who have predominantly led in tech and the startup world who now want to be leaders in social good—people who will be excited about tech nonprofits.
