Health Tech: Charles Mann On How Accushield’s Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Overall Wellness for Seniors

An Interview With Luke Kervin

Be swift about moving forward and making decisions. You will never have all the facts, but your best educated guess is normally the right one.

In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Charles Mann.

Charles Mann works as a Founder at Accushield, which is a Healthcare Software company with an estimated 43 employees; and founded in 2013. They are part of the Sales Executive team within the C-Suite Department and their management level is C-Level. Charles is currently based in Atlanta, United States.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?

Thank you for having me!

I grew up in Texas, but my father built the first assisted living facility in Atlanta in 1988, called the Mann House.

I split summers in Atlanta, GA, where I would work in these assisted living facilities. Caring for seniors was a big part of our family dynamic, what we discussed on holidays and at the dinner table.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Accushield was contacted by law enforcement because an individual was going into senior living facilities and stealing valuables from residents (wedding rings, narcotics, etc.). Our Kiosk takes a picture as someone enters our facilities and we worked with a private investigator to analyze the photos and match it to the same person who was found at Dicks Sporting Goods using a senior’s credit card. Without our kiosk, I do not know if we would have caught the criminal.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I am most grateful for my business partner, Allen Barnes, who is the CEO of Accushield.

We met through mutual friends, connected over lunch on numerous occasions and talked through a strategy to create a safer environment for seniors. Together, we started a business from the ground up, raised a million dollars, and he made sure we had enough money and I made sure our products sold. I could not have built the company without Allen.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.” — Calvin Coolidge.

Growing up, I was always the effort guy. I was not the smartest guy in school, but I always tried the hardest and that quote resonates well with me and my upbringing.

You are a successful business leader. Which three-character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success?

1. Ability to work with a team
2. Consistency
3. Grit

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on our wellness. To begin, which problems are you aiming to solve with the Accushield Kiosks?

Accushield is helping operators know the individuals that are coming and going within their buildings, which in turn keeps senior living and skilled nursing facilities safer.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

I was the Executive Director of a senior facility in Atlanta and did not get comfortable with the number of visitors, families, hospice providers, vendors, etc. coming and going into the community. All we had at the time was a paper sign-in process, which did not properly capture the reason for a visitor coming and going. We had to stop people in the hallways and ask who they were and their reason for visiting, which was very awkward for everyone.

This led to the creation of Accushield, which provides enforced control between vulnerable seniors and those entering the facilities. Everyone entering these facilities must now share their personal information at our kiosks, which is a much safer and streamlined screening process.

How do you think the Accushield kiosks might change the world of senior living & skilled nursing facilities?

There is a lot of valuable data that can be pulled from people coming in and out of the buildings. This data can be analyzed to examine the business in a unique way. The Accushield kiosk enables residents to live in a safer environment because operators can manage the influx of people coming into our buildings.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

We need to be careful when looking at facial recognition as a product, which can cause a lot of problems from a legality perspective. I do not believe the technology is not far enough along as seniors faces change at a more rapid pace, meaning that they could come in one day and be recognized and not the next.

Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”?

1. I am a big believer in partners and teammates. I don’t believe you can do anything alone.
2. You do not have it all figured out.
3. You will not have overnight success.
4. You will learn the most valuable lessons from failing.
5. Be swift about moving forward and making decisions. You will never have all the facts, but your best educated guess is normally the right one.

Is there a person in the world, with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

I would love to have breakfast with Winston Churchill and discuss the state of our world.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Accushield website: https://www.accushield.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Accushield11

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/accushieldsignintablet/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accushieldvisitormanagement/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/accushield/

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.

About the Interviewer: Luke Kervin is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of PatientPop, an award-winning practice growth technology platform. PatientPop is Kervin’s third successful business venture. Prior to co-founding PatientPop, Kervin co-founded and was President of ShopNation (acquired by Meredith Corporation) and was the first executive hire at StarBrand Media (acquired by POPSUGAR).