High school student, Ineka Potma’s father Paul Potma, was looking for someone he could trust to accompany his daughter, who has high-functioning autism, to Scouts each week.
He was looking for someone who also attended Scouts and was similarly aged to his daughter.
Through the Home Care Heroes online platform, he found Elyse Lenehan, a 20-year-old university student, and long-term Scouts member.
“Ineka and I bonded fairly well straight away and we've become really good friends,” says Elyse.
“Particularly here at Scouts, I've seen Ineka become more confident, taking charge a little bit more.
“At the beginning, she was holding back a bit, whereas now, she'll go in and fully embrace it and do what she can to help others as well.”
Ineka’s been going to Scouts for several months.
“People like Elyse, they’re very helpful,” Ineka says. “They go to the effort and I appreciate it.”
“It’s also great because they’re our age, they’re able to do stuff [we do], so it’s good.”
People wanting to work on the online platform need to have police and reference checks, and go through face-to-face interviews before a profile is set up online.
The premise of Home Care Heroes is connecting best-fit carers to those in need – whether it’s the elderly, the disabled or those experiencing isolation.
The startup became approved by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) as an accredited provider in September 2016.
Members who use the service are charged a flat rate of $35 per hour and the business takes a service fee of $7.70 per hour.
Startup born from founders’ own struggles
The business was born from founders' (Mat Bertrand and Jenna Leo) own struggles finding adequate care for Mat’s parents.
“I was an only child and living in Australia so we moved my parents from Canada (where I’m from) here after my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and my mum developed a brain virus called encephalitis," says Mat.
“The biggest problem at the time … it wasn’t finding the medical help but it was actually finding someone to take them out into the community and for them to make friends.”
While the couple eventually found the right person to care for Mat’s parents, it wasn’t an easy or straightforward process.
Co-owner of Home Care Heroes, Mat Bertrand with his mother and father at Sydney International Airport. Source: Mat Bertrand
“That's where the idea came, there must have been millions of people who are looking for casual work, and there are millions of people in the community who are socially isolated,” he says.
Tackling social isolation
Recent figures from the Australian Psychological Society found that one in four Australians feel lonely at least one day a week.
Mat and Jenna’s goal for Home Care Heroes is to improve the care industry.
“Finding a workforce of people in the community who may not have the certificates or qualifications, but they’re really good reliable people," says Mat.
"It's about complimenting the services that professionals already provide and making it appealing and accessible for everyone to participate in social inclusion."
Business Hurdles
Co-founders Mat Bertrand and Jenna Leo were inspired to create Home Care Heroes after their struggles finding care for family. Source: Supplied
Home Care Heroes was launched in March 2016, and despite Mat and Jenna both having non-technical backgrounds, they drew on social media groups to help them find the right people to join the team.
“We used the Sydney Startups Facebook page,” says Jenna. “It’s a really great community where you can ask lots of questions and there’s a lot of people who’ll put up their hands to help.”
The husband and wife duo, believe starting Home Care Heroes as an imperfect product has been a key to their success.
“If we could give advice to people, it’s don't wait until you have a perfect product,” says Mat.
“We let the people using us tell us what was wrong with it and get the feedback.
"Being open to feedback and putting your ego away, that's really improved our product.”
Currently, Home Care Heroes has about 5,000 members who have access to over 1,000 'heroes' across Sydney, the Central Coast, and Newcastle.
The couple plans to expand into other Australian capital cities in the near term future.
