People are at the center of what we do

When we launched Carium, a key consideration was setting the right mission and objective for ourselves and the team. Getting alignment is fundamental to driving cohesion and amplifying our individual efforts towards our goal of helping people lead the best quality of life they can.

As a team, we introspected about our purpose, why we were on this new journey, and how we would measure our success. We decided to learn from people’s health experiences of triumph and loss, and of good news and bad. We would find our north star, our beacon, by listening to their stories, and we would measure our success by whether or not we were able to make a positive difference in their lives.

We invited a few of our dear friends to share their stories with us. These narratives brought an incredible clarity to us, as well as humility and empathy. The conversations further strengthened our purpose, and our resolve to help people along their healthcare journeys. We knew why we were together, and what Carium was about.

We were so inspired by the strength and resilience of the people we spoke with, that it left an indelible mark on us and our mission. I am pleased to announce the launch of our Advocacy Program. The patient voice has many dimensions; sharing, seeking and inspiring. Our Advocacy Program is designed around these dimensions.

Sharing: Many people are looking for a way to share their voice and their health story. The act of sharing what they have experienced and overcome can help give people closure. Furthermore, an attentive audience that can empathize and listen, may provide valuable healing connectedness. At Carium — we invite any person that wants to share their story with us to do so. We support this both through visits to our office, as well as through video clips and stories we plan to share on our blog.

Seeking: One common thread we found across all of our patient stories was the need to self-advocate as they navigated a health condition and sought help. Many times people are in the dark about who to call, what steps to take, what to expect, and what options are available to them. A key objective for us is to help people advocate for themselves. We aim to educate and guide individuals so they know what questions to ask, what to expect when seeking help for a given health issue, as well as helping people know where to go for help. We don’t view this as a transactional form of assistance, rather it has to be a continual relationship with a virtual care team that is on the patient’s side. This virtual coach helps them navigate and stitch together their health journey in a seamless way, with the most positive outcome and experience possible.

Inspiring: Finally, many of the people we have engaged with are driven to help and inspire others. This is the third element of our Advocacy Program. People who have endured a very complex medical journey, or potentially life-changing condition, are deeply passionate about helping others with a similar diagnosis to help them avoid the same pitfalls and unknowns. For the recipient of this help, this sort of hand-holding and guidance can be the difference between a health journey that is fraught with stress and tension about the unknown and uncertainty, to a health experience that feels controlled and self-managed. Further, we believe that we can use the technology we are building to connect people at a very local level, allowing for an even deeper personal connection that can be incredibly meaningful and impactful.

The Advocacy Program goes beyond conversations. We also feature our patient-guests and their stories on a corkboard in our office. Across from the corkboard is our inspiration symbol — which is comprised of our logo surrounded by a circle of people in arms. Making a difference in the lives of people is not just our goal, we aim for it to be ingrained in the fabric of who we are. We are Carium.

If you would like to learn more about our Advocacy Program, and want to share your story with us, we would be honored. Please contact us at advocacy@carium.com.