Where did the name Rippl come from?
Here's a little of the inspiration and backstory from Rippl’s CEO.
First, as you know well, starting a new healthcare company today is no easy feat. A very close second is finding a name you can (legally) call your company when you do start it.
When choosing a name, the first step is to make sure your name doesn't conflict with other company's trademarks or rights. Believe me, way harder than you think. And second, you have to hope the web address you want (for your name) isn't yet taken or isn't being held hostage by a broker who bought every name imaginable when the world-wide-web was invented way back in the 90's. Real stuff.
It's a gauntlet. So, getting to 'Rippl' took a little time and thinking.
Many of you probably don't know that Rippl wasn't our first name. In fact, for a short couple of weeks in late 2021 we were called 'Elli Care', named after the Norse Goddess of old age and wisdom. For lots of reasons, we quickly moved a different direction. That said, the Norse were way ahead of their time on respect for older people, you can read the Elli story here.
Webster’s Dictionary has several definitions for the Ripple. But, this is the one I love.
Rip·ple /ˈrip(ə)l/
Noun: “a particular feeling or effect that spreads through someone or something”
There's also this one -
Noun: "to have or produce a ripple effect: to SPREAD"
Once I started thinking about ripples, I couldn't stop. And, I then started seeing them everywhere. The picture below is from the parking garage at REI here in Seattle -- Level 1. Call me crazy, but I was convinced this must be a sign (literally). But first, a little context.
In the fall of 2021, I left my job to start Rippl. We knew what had to be done -- the opportunity and need were very, very clear. The solution much less so. Mainly because there was hardly anyone in the country who knew much about dementia. Hard to believe, but true.
As we began to lay out how we could build Rippl, I remembered a pretty incredible organization some of you may know called Teach for America. Way back in the early 90's, I was deeply inspired by Wendy Kopp’s founding of Teach for America. Wendy, a fledgling graduate student, struggling to figure out how to make a positive difference with her time and energy, identified a big workforce problem. She couldn’t understand why the US couldn’t get enough high quality teachers to work in inner city schools.
So, she graduated and boldly built an organization to fix this unique workforce problem. She started with a small group of changemakers (a ripple) and, through huge grit and determination, built a super passionate teaching workforce that didn’t exist before. All by inspiring people to get excited about a group of people no one else thought were all that important -- overlooked and undervalued. In her case, inner city poor kids. And it worked. Big time. Since Teach for America was founded, the organization has trained and placed over 70,000 teachers into over 9,000 inner city schools, and has had a giant impact on the futures of countless, deserving kids. You can read Wendy's story here.
Sound familiar?
Like Teach for America, Rippl has a similar, giant workforce challenge. No one seems to care all that much about older people, especially (especially!) those struggling with dementia. It's not new, but it's TRUTH. Many of us are perfectly happy with seniors being 'out of sight and out of mind', warehousing them after their useful lives, often in places that are ill equipped to care for them. Lastly and most importantly, we know we don’t have remotely enough specialized care providers to do the critical work that needs to be done.
As we know well, the reason great dementia care doesn’t exist in the US today is for two primary reasons. 1) Historically Medicare has never holistically paid for the care, and 2) it’s been incredibly difficult to get healthcare professionals to train and work with older people, especially those living with dementia. You each have heard the staggering statistic about how many geri-focused clinicians exist in the US -- it’s tiny. Less than 1% of the whole bunch. In 2022, geriatric medicine had the second highest rate (51.1%) of unfilled fellowship positions after medical genetics. You can read more about the gap Here.
In fact, interest in caring for older people is actually on the wane at exactly the time we’re getting ready to care for the largest group of seniors in US history. In history! Believe it or not, even fewer health care professionals are training to get into senior health now vs even a few years ago. This has got to change and change fast.
Enter Rippl. 🌊
We have two simple goals at Rippl. First, we have to create a world-class, 'care team obsessed' culture, platform and place where health care professionals -- who have a passion for caring for seniors with these conditions -- can thrive in every way. We have to build a culture where, if your calling is to help older people with these conditions, you 'can NOT' work anywhere else.
Second, we’ve got to build a best-in-class training program (much like the one we’ve started with McLean Hospital) to both upskill our existing care team and, equally importantly, take health care professionals from complementary practices (like palliative and hospice care) and get them proficient in our care model quickly.
Simple to say AND really hard to pull off. But, we’re SO up for this challenge.
A great sign in my daughter's school
With this context, we knew we had to start small. One care team member at a time. A Rippl, if you will.
We were convinced if we took the time to build a team of the most highly trained, highest integrity, most passionate, most empathetic care team members anywhere, we’d create a rippl that would turn into a giant wave. And, while we are only getting started, we are already starting to see our early Rippls get momentum. 🚀
Rippl was founded on the simple premise “if you take amazing care of your Care Team, they will take amazing care of their patients and families.” I believe this today even more strongly than I believed it 18 months ago when Rippl was just an idea. This IS and will always BE our secret sauce.
Like all of you, I always wanted (and needed) to be working for something good, something designed to help others, especially those who are overlooked and underserved. To be good at what I do, I have always needed a big, noble mission to go after. And, I know you do, too.
I'm pretty sure we found it. In fact, I'm sure of it.
Today, we're embarking on what I believe is one of the most important health care missions anywhere. It won't be easy, but it WILL be worth it. I can't think of anything more noble than caring for seniors at this stage of their lives. And, building a movement of other passionate changemakers who are equally excited to make a difference and make a mark.
On Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Day a couple of weeks ago, I was thinking about all the progress we’ve made toward solving some of the most glaring injustices in the US. And, at the same time, especially now, it’s clear we have a long, long way to go.
Ageism and the stigma that comes along specifically with dementia and other neurocognitive diseases is quickly becoming one of our biggest societal challenges. It’s a global problem, but particularly acute here in the US. There are many countries across the globe that really respect and honor their elderly. While it's sometimes hard to acknowledge, the US doesn't seem to care much. You can read more about ageism Here and Here. We're seeing it in real time everyday.
While Rippl is not likely going to solve ageism and stigma ALL on its own, I know we can make a big dent. We can get this ball rolling - fast. Especially with this special group of seniors we look after. I couldn't be prouder to be fighting their corner, at a time when it's really going to count.
>> NOW, back to Rippl, the name. One of my childhood heros was Robert F. Kennedy.
In June of 1966, Senator Kennedy visited Cape Town, South Africa and gave a speech to the National Union of South Africa Students. RFK was there to encourage these students in their fight against apartheid, but he also used his visit to draw attention to opportunities Americans had to solve our own deeply entrenched challenges with ensuring justice more broadly.
Senator Kennedy said...
"First is the danger of futility; the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills – against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man (or woman)."
"Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation."
"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage that the belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
A little high-minded maybe, but I hope it inspires you like it inspires me. We are creating "Rippls of Hope" each and everyday. We are standing up for a super special group of seniors and their families, at a time when it really really counts. If not us, then who.
