PrimroseIntel is leveraging Amazon’s Alexa to help modernize senior care operations

When Jason Gottschalk and Camille Roussel launched PrimroseIntel in March 2018, they had one vision in mind: to modernize senior care operations.

Primrose is an app-based senior care platform that harnesses Amazon’s Alexa for Business platform to engage residents and guests with seamless, intuitive and personalized interactions. The platform is a collection of enterprise solutions including:

• A mobile app for caregivers to triage assistance requests.
• A management dashboard with key performance indicators.
• An intuitive voice-first AI for resident, guest and family interaction.

When in use, the system will access a database of information about a certain community using Primrose’s data. When a request can not be met, the app will send a notification to staff to intervene.

Gottschalk previously worked at The Village at Rockville, a Lutheran Community retirement living facility. He started as the director of life enrichment, and worked as the community service director before becoming the executive director, where he spent more than three years in this role.

Roussel spent nearly seven years working with the National Lutheran Communities & Services, an organization consistently seeking innovative ways to improve senior care. Before leaving the company to start Primrose, Roussel was the chief quality and performance officer, where he focused on implementing new customer support software.

“For over a decade we struggled on the provider side with challenges in the technology available to care providers,” Gottschalk told Technical.ly. “The systems available were frustrating for our staff to use and failed to deliver value to our customers.”

Seniors who use the Primrose app will get an Amazon Echo Show touch screen device to communicate with Alexa. The Rockville, Md.-based startup launched a pilot phase of its app at The Village at Rockville, where Gottschalk said Primrose saved staff on average three minutes per call. The company did an exit survey that revealed the pilot was successful on both the customer and staff end. Primrose is officially launching its product on June 17.

Here’s what the Primrose product package looks like:

But, where did the PrimroseIntel name come from? Gottschalk told Technical.ly that the startup was initially backed by a Lutheran organization so the rose hearkens back to Martin Luther’s family seal. However, he said the rose by itself did not seem adequate, so PrimroseIntel was a subtle nod to that heritage.

“The company was launched with the goal of solving some of the industry’s largest challenges – one being the ability to leverage technology and expertise to create a seamless experience for the end user at senior care facilities,” Gottschalk said.

Primrose is completely bootstrapped, with the cofounders as the only full-time employees. The pair outsources many of their business operations such as accounting, payroll and legal. Gottschalk said they are looking for more developers to join the team. The company hasn’t raised any additional funding outside of the initial $1.5 million investment from the cofounders.