Hello, everyone. This is Erica Spice Mason with
the Becker healthcare care podcast series. Thank you
so much for tuning in.
Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by Shawn
Sin. The founder and Ceo of Canopy,
who will talk to us about wearable technology
that's helping to protect health staff.
Sean, welcome to the podcast,
so excited to have you here today to
talk to us about this subject.
Erica, thanks a lot for, the opportunity. We're
looking forward to the conversation.
Likewise. And before we get into our conversation,
I just wanted to see if you'd like
to share with our listeners a little bit
more about yourself, your background, your role,
whatever feels top of mind for you?
Yeah.
I have been in technology.
In and around Silicon Valley for my entire
career, which is now going on, over 20
years.
I've been involved with a number of big
companies,
used to have roles at Microsoft in Google.
I've done a whole bunch of startup companies,
all the way from inception all the way
to growth and scale.
I've invested in a number of companies in
and around health care as well,
but this is a canopy, the first time
that my cofounder founders, and I have 2
other c cofounder along with me. Who
are
who created a company,
explicitly focused on healthcare. So this the first
time we've been working on health care,
in our entire careers, and it's been
it's been eye opening
to to tackle the types of problems we've
been tackling, but
but we're excited that we've been able to
make and continue to make an impact,
on what we believe is 1 of the
most important issues facing,
facing healthcare workers and healthcare care leaders today.
So well said, thank you, Sean. I really
appreciate you sharing a little bit more about
yourself and congrats. On officially entering the health
care world.
No shortage of complexity here. So
yeah, lots to dig into there. Butts And
before we get into kind of the nitty
gritty about canopy, I I wanted to
just pose the question, you know, to someone
who isn't already familiar with... Canopy or even
the wearable safety landscape? How would you explain
what the company does, and what really sparked
the creation of the company as well? Canopy
Yeah. I think... I'll probably best answer your
question by starting with
what was a big surprise to us. When
we first got introduced to
the particular challenge that we've been, working on
for the last 5 years. So
we started Canopy 5 years ago after,
meeting
a number of folks that were career health
care leaders, so former our Ceos.
Health care executives
and in collaboration with, leading academic
health system, a large 1 in the Pennsylvania
area,
we ended up learning that healthcare workers
end up
encountering the greatest amount of violence at work.
Across any occupation in the country, which is
unbelievably sad,
but truly surprising for folks that aren't in
healthcare. Was a problem that's not really talked
about. But,
you know, I think most people think of
physicians and nurses and working in in a
hospital how as
a well regarded, well respected profession. It's certainly
how I grew up and probably how all
of us grew up. But over the last,
several years, what has become clear is that
these folks are encountering
patients getting aggressive, violent,
biting them, kicking them, throwing food at them.
It's really,
a, a, very, very
disappointing and sad state of the world that
that the people that are trying to take
care of us whenever we're sick and whenever
we need them the most, end up getting
treated in this way. And that's not everybody,
but it happens often enough to where
if you talk to most health care workers
if they don't have a story about some
sort of encounter that they had themselves,
they they will know someone,
1 of their coworkers or close colleagues who
has.
And so we got introduced this problem about
5 years ago, and
when we started learning about some of the
interventions that
were being implemented.
It felt like there's a lot more that
could be done,
and that's ultimately what led to the Genesis,
You know, you talk to,
anybody who you know that works in a
hospital,
they will relay some story that they had,
and
we had a, deep technology background and it
felt like there wasn't a lot of technology
being applied to this specific challenge, and we
felt like we have something to offer and
something that we could bring to the table
for health care leaders to consider as they
find ways and new ways to to support
their staffs.
Thanks so much, Sean. It's... Really interesting to
hear about how Canopy really came to be,
and also the timing of it all, you
know, having
started this idea 5 years ago, I believe
you said,
really right before the pandemic hit, it sounds
like. So
I'm sure we'll get into that too about
how the Covid 19 pandemic really kind of
fueled or exacerbated some of these workplace violence
incidents. But
yeah, really fascinating to hear that story. So
I know that Canopy since then has also
expanded into home health. So I'd like to
know a little bit more about how you
anticipate this wearable safety technology in home health
visits will really help. I'd protect workers, and
really what was the motivation for this as
a next step.
Yeah. Let me let me describe to a
little bit about
some of the ways that we've been helping
staff and I'll all that'll tie
into
a lot of the trends that are driving,
a similar sort of need in in home
health. And, you know, I think at a
super high level, you know, like we were
talking about, you know, what we've found is
a is that if you if you go
and poll healthcare workers,
nearly 40 percent of them in a study
that I just saw, will have encountered some
sort of incident
where patient gets aggressive, maybe their family gets
aggressive,
and that's within the 4 walls of a
hospital,
4 out of 5
caregivers
will end up experiencing some version
of
violence across their careers.
It's just truly remarkable
how bad
of an environment that these workers are,
having to to deal with. And what's even
worse is that these problems are under reported,
sometimes to the tune of,
5 times as many incidents go.
Un un as opposed to get reported.
Well at the same time,
what you see happening with health systems
is a desire to support their styles, but
the interventions
oftentimes
place more responsibility on training
and dee escalation, which is all should be
applauded and very important,
but staff tend to be responsible for learning
how to deal with these types of patients
on their own.
So now that's in the 4 walls of
a hospital.
But now imagine you're a nurse or a
ph bottom or any kind of social worker.
And 1 of the biggest trends going on
across hospitals is to get
over capacity
hospitals,
to take patients that are getting care in
the hospitals and move them into the comfort
of their homes. So huge trend
very important
across the industry, but now you have these
caregivers that are having to go into people's
homes,
I'll tell you a story that I heard
from an organization that we're working with.
They,
1 of their caregivers,
was describing how they had to go into
somebody's home. It was a grandmother who they
needed to take care of, since I had
to just do a number of, you know,
a handful of procedures
they show up, and it turns out downstairs
from the grandmother. There's a drug deal going
on...
And it turns out that grandmother happens to
actually be involved in the operation.
And there's
times firearms that might be around depending on
some of these areas. This might be rural
facility. That's not anywhere near our rural home
that's nowhere near. The main facility. So imagine
you were a 20 something, 30 something, 40
something nurse or health care having to walk
into that type of environment.
It's a pretty anxiety inducing
situation and 1 that
ultimately is gonna lead to,
obviously,
not the best care, but more importantly, it
leads to a
desire to not have to do that for
your work. It's just shouldn't have to be
part of your work.
What our technology does
is help address that
situation where a caregiver might feel
alone.
And so on their own, when they're just
trying to do their jobs. And so we
created a wearable safety
that staff can use no matter where they
are delivering care. So it's a battery powered
wearable
panic button
that works with infrastructure that we install
that gives... So staff a way to press
the button and get instant access to any
resources that might be available by the hospital,
to take care of them and to intervene
when a situation gets threatening or dangerous.
In the context of a hospital,
it might be,
access or a direct connection to central security
or nearby caregivers who might be in a
position to help
in the context of a home care visit,
which is what we just launched,
it could be
a direct
connection to 911 so that law enforcement can
show up and respond. It works instantaneously,
it's
highest level of reliability,
and
ultimately give staff a way to feel fully
supported and connected,
to their entire organization, whenever they might be
trying to do their jobs in a situation
that could be they're threatening or dangerous
Fantastic. Thanks, Sean.
It's... I mean, I... I'm just putting myself
in the shoes of that health care work
or whose story you described and what a
vulnerable position to be in
you know, trying to help patients and
I'm sure not visibly panic in the moment
and so having something like that button that
can get you instant access to
you know, safety protocol or, safety measures.
What what a fantastic idea.
Appreciate you sharing the details there.
And I know that you mentioned how some
healthcare organizations today,
you're seeing a lot of them kind of
implementing training and dee escalation techniques.
As part of their safety measures,
then that's within the 4 walls of a
hospital to your point.
But I... I'm wondering if you can speak
a little bit more on the general trend
of how you're seeing
top health care systems really proactively
take on staff safety,
kind of as a differentiator. I mean, in
this day and age, it's almost
you know, a way to stay competitive
in a sense. So curious to get your
take on that and how this approach has
evolved
as safety become more prevalent issue.
Yeah. That's actually 1 of the most important.
I think
ways in which
organizations can go
above and beyond.
For the way that they actually provide
support to their staff and in doing so
improve
care outcomes and the way they actually support
and do their jobs, which is to take
care of patients.
You know, if you if you if you
go talk with most of the organizations that
we work with. So we are now
protecting over 200000
people around the country.
And there's a number of themes that come
up
whenever we talk with
these organizations that have decided to
take a leadership role
in how they address and support their staffs
whenever they have to deal with workplace violence.
I think,
you know, I'd probably break
the impact
that these organizations seek to have into a
couple of different categories. I think number 1
is just the impact on individuals themselves.
If you're a that nurse, you know, we
were talking about the person going into somebody's
home, but that same
situation happens in the 4 walls of a
hospital. We have to remember it, you know,
put yourself in the position of a, you
know, a nurse or,
you know, somebody who is just there to
transport a patient from 1 1 place to
another.
These are 24 by 7 facilities.
Imagine you're walking
to a patient at the end of a
quarter. We've all been in a hospital before
a long hallway.
It's 11PM at night. It's dark You walk
into a room. During Covid,
we even had closed door protocol, so you
might have had to close the door to
do whatever you need to do with the
patient.
You're on your own,
and who knows what could happen in that
situation.
And so not only
do incidents happen when patients or their families
escalate?
But it's just a level of anxiety that
you're constantly
doing your jobs with that weighs on you
while you're actually just trying to do your
work. So
You know, I think the kind of impact
that we've been able to see some of
these organizations have. First and foremost,
is helping situations are helping individuals when they're
in a situation where patients getting aggressive
by giving them a direct connection to
security nearby staff, anybody who might be in
a position to help at the press of
a button.
But just carrying the button with you
it's like having a tool or a shield
that allows you to feel
safe and reduces that anxiety. From doing your
work because you're not alone. You know that
button will give you access to someone who
can come and help, and it's carried with
you. It's on your person, it's discreet
So both of those are really important at
an individual level. They tend to end up
feeling safer over 95
percent. Of staff who carry our buttons
end up describing
feeling safer
instantly
so that impact is felt right away.
But what's important from a leadership point of
view, you know, you might be a leader
who's trying to implement,
your high reliability
organization framework. You might be trying to go
above and beyond the standard interventions that the
joint commission offered. You might be just trying
to get more data on
what is happening in your organization frequency of
incidents.
And more... Most importantly, you might be just
trying to to provide... So give back to
your staff so that they can do their
jobs the best that they possibly can.
So what we've seen larger or or the
leading organizations do is
they end up implementing the standard
interventions, d escalation training,
scorecard,
you know, encouraging people to report.
Incidents
ultimately with the goal to demonstrate that its
leadership responsibility to address
workplace violence.
But what is really compelling about the organizations
we've worked with or that we've seen is
that...
Our leadership
when they implement wearable safety, like what we
offer,
they end up
going further
and essentially demonstrating their commitment, to addressing workplace
violence for their staff. And so the 1
of the most common pieces of feedback we
get whenever we talk to organizations, is that
staff feel
supported by their leadership. That ends up showing
up in recruiting materials. It ends up having
a retention benefit.
We were talking to a an academic organization
that said, for every
piece of technology that they implemented
around helping staff feel safer. There was a
2 percent improvement
in for staff retention, and that's very meaningful
when
it costs tens of thousands of dollars to
handle staff turnover and things like that. So
we've seen some pretty material impact from the
types of
organizations we've been working with.
Yeah.
Really appreciate you sharing some of those numbers,
Sean. I think that
helps to really contextualize the impact that this
technology is having. And just what you said
to kind of wrap it all up that's
staff feel supported by their leadership. What a
powerful,
it's a powerful notion in today's staffing landscape,
let alone safety. So
thanks again for for sharing all of that.
And I know our times together is winding
down unfortunately. So I'm sure we could go
on, but I'd love to know just to
kind of conclude our discussion. If you could
just share what's on the horizon for Canopy.
Is there anything...
Exciting on the pipeline that you'd like to
share for 20 24 or beyond?
Well, I think the biggest thing that we'd
like to share, you know, kind of upcoming
is
you know, just a very simple idea.
Our our company's mission is to help keep
staff safe.
Our belief is very simple
that, every single
individual who works in health care
should be able to do the job that
they got into the profession for, which is
take care of patients. And so
our view is very simple that just like
you would provide masks and gloves and other
Ppe,
to caregivers so that they can do their
jobs
effectively without
without risk to themselves.
We believe
wearable safety, like what we offer with Canopy
or wherever an organization might consider it, should
ultimately be part of standard Ppe.
That individuals
get as part of their day to day
jobs. And so I think what you're gonna
see from Canopy over the next next exterior
is a continued commitment to that mission of
helping
organizations
go as far as they are possibly able
to go to help support their staff. So
you'll see us working with lots of organizations
that are involved, you'll see us continuing to
to to to find new ways to support
staff and their leaders to support their staff.
So we're we're very excited about the work
we're doing and we're committed
to ensuring that every caregiver in the country
ends up having some sort of wearable solution
like ours
Yeah. Really looking forward to seeing how the
wearable safety landscape evolves in the next few
years and also how it... It has a...
I'm sure it will have a greater impact
on hospital and health system strategies here. So
really looking forward to seeing...
What's on the horizon? Sean, thank you again
for for joining Becker podcast today and sharing
all about Canopy with us.
No. We appreciate appreciate the time, and appreciate
the the conversation. I think it's a really
important 1. And
if there's 1 last note that I would
love your audience or your listeners to to
to know is that there's a lot of
tools available to them,
beyond just the standard interventions that that might
be that that that most tend to look
at. And we'd be... We'd be more than
excited to to share share our learnings, and
and we encourage that leadership to really look
into addressing this from, lots and lots of
benefits to, not only their staffs, but to
all of us who
use the health system to to stay healthy.
So well said, thank you again, Sean, and
also, we'd like to thank our podcast sponsor
for Today's episode, Canopy.
Listeners you can tune into more podcast podcasts
from Becker by visiting our podcast page at
becker hospital review dot com.