Changing how we care for our parents
As attention swings towards AI, a quieter crisis is unfolding: an aging generation that will push millions of millennials into caring for both children and aging parents at once. When my grandmother was diagnosed with dementia, my aunt, the “alpha daughter” of the family, took everything on her shoulders. For years, I thought she was a superhero. At my grandmother’s memorial service, I realized the cost: my aunt had fully broken throughout the journey.
The last photo I have of my grandmother. She was remembering my father’s name at the moment.
We spoke to nearly 100 adult sons and daughters to learn they were all saying the same thing. “I’m completely lost. I’m spending hours on the phone running into dead end after dead end.” 11,000 Americans turn 65 every day with over 80% of them preferring to age at home. Again and again, we hear the same raw truth: the emotional cost of aging is real and the system leaves families to bear the burden alone.
A hidden benefit most families don’t know about newly exists.
There’s a service wealthy families have quietly used for years: private care management. You have someone as an extension of the family to navigate the system, handle the phone calls, and advocate for what’s best for your parent. A service that used to be reserved for the 1% as a luxury concierge service is newly an insurance-covered benefit most Americans don’t realize exists.
That’s why we started Hera.
We manage care for aging parents by matching every family that needs one with a Hero (expert care manager), covered by Medicare. Heroes are experienced and trained healthcare workers, passionate about serving older adults while engaging in flexible, remote work. They manage the non-clinical but essential work of caring for an older adult: finding the right providers, scheduling and preparing for appointments, navigating insurance and community benefits, applying for Medicaid, and managing medications. We started this company with one simple principle: If it’s not good enough for our own parents, it’s not good enough for yours.
In a world of AI, we foster human connection.
Behind every Hero is Hera’s technology: an AI-powered operating system built specifically for care managers. We want humans focused on what they do best and what older adults need most: human connection. Our OS automates administrative workflows task management, billing, spending time on hold, and documentation that take time away from building trust with families.
The challenge ahead is one of scale in a shortage of healthcare workers. There are few experienced care managers and every family in America deserves one. We’re building technology to unlock infinite supply. Hera’s platform expands who can become a Hero by giving them a “second brain”: recommendations and guidance on next steps powered by a vetted resource database and a care plan generator. We’ll layer on AI supervision and coaching to ensure Hera’s six-star standard as we scale nationally with every family that needs one.
Real impact on real lives
Initial families working with Hera have already felt us transform their day-to-day reality. Every month, Heroes complete on average 11 tasks per family; freeing up time and emotional bandwidth for families.
One of our early clients, Lance Korman, adult son caring for an aging mother put it this way:
“Before Hera, dealing with nurses, Medicare, Medicaid was a total mess. Now, when something comes up, our Hero just says, ‘I’ll handle it” and actually does it, coordinating with everyone, checking in on my mother, and even finding us ways to save money. After years of figuring this out the hard way, I still can’t believe Hera exists.”
We’re on a mission to change the way we care for our parents and redefine a universal human experience. Hera is now officially live in New York.
Jenny Lee, Co-founder & CEO
jenny@hellohera.com
Age your way
