The Vigilant Advocate LLC
Helping You Navigate Care
THE PROBLEM:
A CAREGIVING CRISIS
A KNOWN PROBLEM
» 63 million Americans are unpaid caregivers
$25b in extra costs per year related to lack of health literacy
82% of unpaid caregivers suffer mental health struggles
78% of caregivers report experiencing burnout
RESEARCH SHOWS
» the economic value of unpaid care is estimated at $1 TRILLION annually
90% of Americans struggle with medical information
75% of caregivers feel unprepared to navigate care
75% of caregivers provide 40+ hours of care per week ~ often on top of another full-time job
» the number of unpaid caregivers has risen by 20million people since 2015
» caregivers forego $100billion in earnings every year
THE IMPACT:
HIGHER COSTS AND WORSE OUTCOMES
» one in five caregivers report their own physical health as poor
THE SOLUTION:
THE VIGILANT ADVOCATE
What it is » The Vigilant Advocate is a platform to help caregivers navigate the complexities of care by providing resources, advocacy, and support with a human-first team of navigators supported by a vetted, reliable AI backbone providing a vast library of resources, tools, and supports.
Why its unique » The Vigilant Advocate combines the background of its founder in law, social work, and lived experience to provide caregivers with the resources and support they need to better navigate care. It is a platform that will meet you where you are, help you take the next step, and give you support when, and where, you need it.
How it was built » We went to you, the caregivers, and we asked: “what would help you through this?” Those answers formed the VIRA Suite of products.
the VIRA Suite
VIRA
humans to help you
Human-to-human navigation support from trained advocates.
humans who know
A network of peer support. Often the support we need is simply someone seeing you and saying “I know your pain.”
support for you to be heard
VIRA Voice helps caregivers build confidence advocating for care through practical playbooks, AI-powered practice, and access to live professional advocates when additional support is needed.
support to help you hear
VIRA Voice also provides an important resource to help you understand the language of care by providing plain language translations of medical term and explanations of processes.
a safe place, owned by you, to keep track of everything you have to keep track of
A secure place for you to keep track of everything: appointments, medications, notes from conversations, questions, medical records, images, and more.
a library of resources connecting you to what you need, when you need it, where you are
A library of resources to help you navigate care:
community-based, governmental, and other organizations providing support services
information to support navigating the logistics of care
All supported by humans helping you find what you need.
Do you have a story to tell?
We are beginning by listening
Perhaps the most common experience in America is the difficulty navigating care. When I share my story of why I started this venture, everyone listens nodding their heads, everyone of them understanding. And many come up to me to say “I need to tell you my story.”
Every one of these stories matters. YOUR story matters.
Please click these links to either take a comprehensive survey or schedule an interview.
You will help us fix a broken system.
Our why
Kristen Best founded the Vigilant Advocate after her middle son missed a full year of school sick without a diagnosis. He was hospitalized many times, saw countless specialists, spent all of his time going from one appointment to the next, yet no one could figure what was wrong. The Bests had more resources than most: they had health insurance, Kristen and her husband are lawyers, they live in a place with lots of healthcare, Kristen was able to not work so she had time to dedicate to caretaking. Despite all of that, navigating care was nearly impossible. The Bests did not understand the system, the language. Kristen found that few providers listened to her or to her son. It was difficult to keep track of everything, to know what tests had been run, what drugs had been prescribed, why, and what, did any of it mean. And, perhaps worst of all, they felt very alone and lost in the process.
With persistence and lucky, their story ended magically: they found an answer and they got their son back.
Kristen vowed to do something about her experience. So she built the Vigilant Advocate, with a mission focus on changing the system so that others will not feel so lost, be so confused, nor find themselves so frighteningly alone.