Twin brothers Xing and Yang Su don’t just want their own grandparents to have quality health care, they want it for every senior.
“We were raised by our grandparents for about nine years of our lives and they were — and still are — some of the most important people in our lives,” Xing said. “Over the last few years, all three of our living grandparents have had a lot of health issues and we just thought, ‘What can two thirty-something year olds do to provide care for our own families?’”
As they did research into the senior care industry and talked to other families, they realized that their problems weren’t unique, and they came across the PACE model of care, which they thought was a perfect fit for their family.
PACE stands for Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, a model of senior care that emphasizes connections to the community for elderly people and keeping them living at home, with family, for as long as possible. It’s a common sentiment among Asian communities in particular as an alternative to residential nursing home care.
The Su brothers founded Seen Health based on the conviction to provide a high standard of care to underserved Asian and Pacific Islander elders and pioneered a take on the PACE model that’s culturally-tailored and technologically-enabled to expand access for this type of service to many more elders.
“The aging population is the fastest growing in our country and many individuals who have medically complex needs don’t have access to specialized care,” said Patricia Sandoval, Seen Health’s in-house expert on the PACE model. “They’re using primary care services, but don’t have the assistance to schedule other coordinated care that they need. We provide the primary care and wraparound services, plus geriatric care, all in one team. There’s a huge need, especially in this area.”
The flagship program, based in Alhambra, will open its doors this year. Seen Health’s facilities include a medical clinic, physical and occupational therapy, on-site social workers and dietitians, and a day center with recreational therapy providing memory care activities, socialization, group therapies, and exercise therapies. It also supports that same level of assistance in daily living that they might receive at home, from assistance with shower and bathroom usage to laundry and meal preparation. The primary goal of the PACE model and Seen Health is to keep their program participants living at home for as long as possible.
“Once they come in, no matter what their condition is, they’re still ours,” Sandoval added. “They stay with us from when they come in through to end-of-life.”
Seen Health carries the Su brothers’ mission to ensure that elderly people receive high quality health care, when it otherwise might be difficult if they’re not as fluent in English or live in underserved areas. It also has a tie back to their family heritage, as it’s close to the Romanization of their ancestral family name.
“The idea of being seen is so important to all of us, not just being seen by medical providers, but also being seen as people,” Xing said. “We love the idea of making them feel seen, when traditionally they’ve been a little marginalized. We really see people for who they are and provide the right support.”
Neither Xing or Yang come from health care backgrounds. Xing spent the majority of his career with Uber in business operations leading global expansion efforts, while Yang has led large-scale implementations and builds for cutting edge software in Silicon Valley. They combined their experience to bring a different perspective to PACE and partner with PACE experts like Sandoval to build a more technologically-advanced program.
In November, Seen Health closed its Series A funding round at an impressive $22 million, which they’re using to ensure their first center in Alhambra will be able to provide “the very, very best” to local seniors. They’re focusing on opening the first center now, but have their eyes on expanding to other areas with high need, including in other cities in the San Gabriel Valley.
While Seen Health currently emphasizes API elders because of the founders’ personal experiences, Xing said he believes the PACE model can provide the best-in-class service for other ethnicities and groups, too, and hopes that Alhambra’s diverse population can become a model for expanding their care in the future.
