Social Impact Tech: Josh Klein On How Emerest’s Technology Will Make An Important Positive Impact
An Interview With Dave Philistin
Find a solution to a problem. If you think of a solution to an issue that’s plagued the world, commit to changing it by writing it down on paper and bringing it to life.
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 Josh Klein.
Native New Yorker Josh Klein, Founder, and CEO of Emerest, Royal Care, and U@Perks, takes care of business by taking care of people. Klein is on a mission to refocus the sector on the people that serve. That’s how he has successfully grown multiple businesses focused on telehealth, specialized healthcare, and home care solutions that serve multiple states across the United States. During his free time, Josh serves his community by volunteering for Hatzalah, an emergency medical service organization, helping save thousands of lives over the years.
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?
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, within a healthcare household. My mother founded Royal Care, one of the businesses I now operate and taught me the importance of business and entrepreneurship at a young age. As a Jewish woman in the ’90s, starting a business within the healthcare sector was tough. Still, I saw my mother work hard and never give up, all while raising several children, which instilled in me the grit needed to succeed and grow multiple businesses within the healthcare industry. My father was an Administrator at a Nursing Home, and I visited him at work often. He knew every worker and patient by their name and went above and beyond to treat his employees well. Seeing my parents care about their businesses at such a molecular level and place importance on human value in the workplace and at home has applied itself to how I operate as a person today.
Can you share the most exciting story that has happened to you since you began your career?
The COVID-19 pandemic has been by far the most interesting — as a CEO, and it’s not every day that you are forced to restructure your businesses entirely. Before the pandemic, home care was traditionally a face-to-face business model: the caregiver goes into the home and serves an elderly client. Now, we have added technology into the mix. Overall, I would say that this has been a blessing for patients worldwide that allows monitoring of patients around the clock. For example, with Emerest Connect, we have built out an entire department that is fully dedicated to caring for our patients not just during business hours but during nighttime hours as well. So, if someone’s blood pressure isn’t optimal at 3 AM, we can contact the patient and their family to inform them of this. If necessary, our company automatically flags our own internal ambulance company to go to the patient’s home. We have created an integrated system to ensure our patients are taken care of around the clock, from start to finish. And most importantly, we have seen first-hand the power of our technology to save lives. It’s happened several times now, and it’s incredible.
None of us can 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?
Faye started Royal Care in the ’90s, and my father managed a nursing home for many years. They always taught me the importance of serving others, especially caregivers and nurses, who are the main drivers within the home care industry.
Here’s an example. Growing up, my mother ran Royal Care as a small business, and we would regularly have home health aides stop by our house for a bite to eat. These caregivers were mainly immigrant women who did not speak English very well, and my mother treated them like family. Seeing this as a young boy taught me the importance of treating these healthcare professionals with the utmost respect. One of my main missions within our companies is to help empower caregivers and nurses and elevate their positions within the healthcare industry. As a result, we invest in our businesses’ benefits and perks we offer professionals. Because of my mother and father’s kindness, I have learned the importance of treating employees like family and ensuring they receive the same respect as other professionals within the healthcare field.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I love the Gandhi quote, “We, ourselves, must be the change we wish to see in the world.” It is why I continue to volunteer as a paramedic while running three businesses. Every day I take the lessons I learned and apply them to my companies. Ultimately, healthcare aims to enhance the quality of a human being’s life. If I can personally get this experience serving as a paramedic, I can apply it to our business models at Emerest, Royal Care, and U@Perks. It is a 24/7 job, but I love every minute of it. I sleep for a few hours here and there, but overall, I believe that saving lives is my purpose, so I wake up every day grateful to volunteer for others and run such great businesses.
You are a booming business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The first is serving others. The compassion and care necessary to treat patients and healthcare professionals alike have made all the difference. Second, I would say being resilient. The healthcare industry faces many challenges. The pandemic is an example of the biggest one of our lifetimes. The ability to put one foot in front of the other when difficulties arise is essential. Lastly, sharing my success — ensuring that those who have helped me build these businesses get the recognition and growth they deserve. Being a leader by example is instrumental.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the central 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 particular problems are you aiming to solve?
Emerest Connect is entirely focused on technology. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the elderly community, which we predominantly serve, to lock themselves indoors to stay safe from the coronavirus. As a result of isolation and loneliness, depression rates have skyrocketed globally. Through Emerest Connect, we strive to keep patients healthy within the comfort of their homes while also providing them with an excellent quality of life through social engagement and 24/7 mental and physical care.
How do you think your technology can address this?
First and foremost, telehealth overall is using the power of technology to enhance the health of individuals within the comfort of their own homes, and there are a ton of companies out there providing telehealth solutions. What makes Emerest Connect genuinely different is the focus on behavioral and social health, with the mission to create communities among patients experiencing similar conditions. So, we are placing a significant emphasis on keeping our patients healthy, thereby enhancing their physical health and investing in their mental and emotional well-being by providing personalized social work and unique gamification efforts. Emerest Connect patients can make an appointment to speak to a social worker about a plethora of things they may be experiencing, participate in virtual games with other patients, and be part of a virtual community where they can form connections with others. Our data has shown us that our patients are partaking in this multi-faceted, balanced solution and, as a result, now have greater happiness levels. They have developed new friendships and have seen significant improvement in their physical health. This has been a truly incredible breakthrough in the home care industry. We plan to take this to the next level by creating a live interactive video studio this spring, where our social workers and gamification experts will be able to communicate live with patients from an actual TV Studio. It’s the first of its kind, and we’re very excited about it.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to feel passionate about this cause initially?
We noticed that humans started becoming a number during the pandemic. In theory, it makes sense that when an entire industry is dealing with such a significant influx of patients, humanity hits that “fight or flight” instinct, and professionals solely become focused on saving lives. We wanted to take things a step further. Of course, the Emerest Connect telehealth program focuses on saving lives but simultaneously helps engage people’s brains so that patients live happier lives. We do this by providing patients with the option to speak with a social worker or nurse 24/7. We have created a community where patients can play games via their tablets and participate in mental health education sessions with members experiencing similar conditions or concerns. By focusing on happiness and personalized care, we are bringing back the human component that the pandemic took away.
How do you think this might change the world?
We are revolutionizing the home health care industry with our holistic and high-tech approach to patient care and by prioritizing the well-being of our home health aides.
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 build our technology with happiness in mind, so we do not see any drawbacks. But of course, on a global scale, as technology becomes more of a driving factor within our world, it will be interesting to see how advertising will advance within social networks and what types of decisions it will lead users to make. I don’t foresee this being an issue within the healthcare industry. If anything, I think technology will assist us with creating more cures for illnesses, which will help humankind further.
Here is the central 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”? (Please share a story or an example for each.)
- Find a solution to a problem. If you think of a solution to an issue that’s plagued the world, commit to changing it by writing it down on paper and bringing it to life.
- Be stubborn about making your solution come to life. There will always be people to undermine your business or try to put you down, but if you are genuinely passionate, you must keep moving forward and attract those that believe in your idea.
- Don’t be afraid to do things differently. Our entire business concept had to take the idea of healthcare and reshape it by thinking outside the box. For example, to solve the alienation issue among our telehealth clients, we decided to build an entire TV Studio that would allow our social workers and gamification experts to engage with the patients live via their tablets. Many people doubted us at first, but we kept pushing forward, and it is now coming to life.
- Keep it simple. Many ideas can become complex and impossible to bring to life if you focus too much on the details. Keep it simple and work on the basics first. The first version of something does not have to be the final version.
- Find the right people. When growing any business, it’s essential to find people to work for you that are just as passionate as you are. Ultimately a company is a product of the people that help build it, so be sure to keep the right ones by your side. And remember to share your success with them.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.
