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VOL.36, NO.8
LEISURE & TRAVEL
British Columbia’s remote coastal rainforest teems with wildlife, including bears, wolves, orcas and humpback whales; plus, tips for solo travelers page 28
Dr. Richard Burns and his children, Andrew and Kira, developed a product to help those who have difficulty walking. They are among the winners of this year’s Startup Challenge, a new program at the National Institute on Aging that mentors and helps fund entrepreneurs who want to improve the lives of older adults.
NIA selects six winners to each win a $60,000 cash prize. The NIA funding has already helped put a fall-detection device in Best Buy stores and has assisted dozens of other entrepreneurs. “It’s not something that you see every day — a government office like ours to be able to develop a de novo program that immediately is having impact,” said Todd Haim, Ph.D., the director of NIA’s Office of Strategic Extramural Programs, which over-
sees the Startup Challenge and Accelerator. The program isn’t exactly “Shark Tank,” but it bears some resemblance to the reality TV series. For instance, each innovator’s pitch video, filmed at the beginning and again at the end of the program, is “very similar to what you see on ‘Shark Tank,’” Haim said. But instead of the kitchen sponges and gourmet popcorn vying for funding on See STARTUPS, page 25
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The Startup Challenge helps many new businesses with that learning curve. Launched two years ago, innovators from all types of backgrounds — nurses, bankers, researchers — are welcome to apply. NIA chooses 20 applicants each year to participate in a five-month “accelerator” — an educational program providing 40 training sessions and a three-day in-person “boot camp” conference. After five months,
PHOTO COURTESY OF KIRA BURNS/GRAVITREX
A government ‘Shark Tank’
AUGUST 2024
PHOTO BY MAPLE LEAF AVENTURES
Growing age-focused startups By Margaret Foster What if you had a bright idea for a gadget that could help older adults? How would you turn that idea into reality? Six years ago, Pam Cacchione, a Philadelphia nurse, had such an idea. Her brother, who lives in Maryland, had developed heart failure, which caused his legs to swell. She wanted to help him but was too far away to check on him personally. “I resorted to looking at his sock rings,” that is, the rings his socks left on his swollen legs. “I blurted out, ‘You need heart-failure monitoring socks!’” Her colleagues urged her to invent those socks, so Cacchione came up with a few prototypes and this February won $60,000 from the Startup Challenge, a new program at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Bethesda, Maryland. “These socks are going to help families manage their loved one’s heart failure at home and notice if they’re getting worse or getting better,” said Cacchione, professor of Geropsychiatric Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Although her invention has taken years to develop and still needs further testing, “it’s been really exciting and such a huge learning curve,” Cacchione said of the NIA program.
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ARTS & STYLE
Novelist Amy Tan’s birdwatching book takes off; plus, local writer publishes his second crime novel, and Bob Levey endorses vacations page 32 FITNESS & HEALTH 6 k Fountain of youth is at the gym k Separate beds, better sleep LIVING BOLDLY 20 k Newsletter for D.C. residents LAW & MONEY 22 k Don’t fall for “deepfake” videos k James Caan’s financial mistake ADVERTISER DIRECTORY
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