As part of a tech challenge to help seniors age in place, new alum Kendrea Sicotte, along with business partners and friends Samantha Gardner and Rehma Khan, thought up a way to help seniors remain in their homes.
Their creative solution – LifeTech Care – won first place in the Healthcare for Aging Canadians Student Innovation Challenge, a competition sponsored by TECHNATION and NorQuest College that awards grants and cash prizes for innovative projects that support seniors.
In the final stage of the competition, the team made their final pitch at NorQuest. “First place – it’s crazy – we didn't think that was going to happen,” says Sicotte, who has had an interest in seniors’ care since high school when she began working at a retirement home.
Sicotte says that instead of creating brand new technology, the team decided to bridge the gap between the tools that are already out there and the people who need them.
“There are already so many amazing startups and companies in this space,” says Sicotte. “But it can be hard to access because families and caregivers just don’t have the time.”
Enter LifeTech Care. The personalized platform collects information about an individual senior and matches their needs with technology that already exists and is listed within their database.
“Say your mother needs a monitor for her bed in case she falls at night,” explains Sicotte. “That technology – like bed sensors – already exists. Our tool will help match your mom’s need with the technology that will help.”
Noticing and working to address gaps is nothing new for Sicotte and her LifeTech Care partners, Samantha Garner, who works in medical robotics, and Rhema Khan, who is working on a master’s in public health.
LifeTech Care isn’t the first venture the trio has undertaken. In 2021, while attending the same leadership program, they created Women in Leadership, an organization that offers workshops and hosts conferences aimed at developing women leaders across disciplines.
“It's the leaky pipeline – as you go higher up in an organization, there's few women in those roles, and especially women of colour,” says Sicotte.
The organization runs workshops, hosts conferences and a gala, and has a mentorship program to develop women leaders across disciplines. Now, after three years of operating, Sicotte is proud the organization continues to offer a supportive space for female students, even though the original team has stepped back.
In 2023, following her commerce degree at the University of Alberta, Sicotte again noticed a gap – this time in her own knowledge base related to engagement and communications. So, she enrolled in the public relations program at MacEwan.
“The diploma helped me understand the public and the user,” she says. “And the skills that I learned in those classes have really helped in the development of our company, especially risk management and crisis communications – just in case something happens.”
As part of the competition, Sicotte and her partners received mentorship to develop their idea. Now, LifeCare Tech, armed with the new funding they received, will be focusing on putting their ideas to task building the functional tool and hiring students to help liaise with seniors and their caregivers.
“It's like a domino effect,” says Sicotte, contemplating what’s next. “From the support that we got in university, this competition, Women in Leadership and the community building us up to be able to do great things – now we're able to use our knowledge and skills to help others.”