Chirag Jadhwani is leveraging AI to support frontline health care workers

It's Aiden McRae here - marketing coordinator and storyteller at YukonU Innovation & Entrepreneurship (I&E). I recently sat down to chat with Chirag Jadhwani, CEO and Technical Lead at Honest Empathy Innovations Inc., known as PeerSupport.io. Chirag has accessed I&E’s Innovation Fund to test and launch Spotlight - an app designed to support health care workers at risk of burnout - and their team is seeing promising results. 

As someone who is slow to adopt emerging technologies, I listened with curiosity and wonder to Chirag's story. My assumption about AI as a clinical tool that lacks human-ness dissolved as Chirag described the power of like-minded people who leverage technology to drastically improve caregivers’ workloads.

Our team at YukonU I&E is thrilled that Chirag has joined our IncubateNorth program to continue to grow his company for the next 12-18 months. Read on to learn about this team of like-minded people nurturing their innovation with ambitious goals for the future of health care.

Photo: Chirag Jadhwani meets with Premier Ranj Pillai.

Chirag Jadhwani has always loved to tackle tough problems. He was a young professional working for the Government of Yukon when he witnessed the toll the COVID-19 pandemic took on caregivers, as well as the passing of his grandma. These events moved him to make the leap from his full-time job to study how to support the unmet needs of health care workers – he wanted to find the points of friction in health care settings and identify solutions.

Fast forward to today, and Chirag’s company has designed an AI tool to serve caregivers working on the frontlines of crisis helplines, community health centres and hospitals.

During summer 2023, Chirag spent two months at the Krasman Centre – a group of three community health centres serving psychiatric survivors in the York region of Toronto. With a small stipend provided by Krasman, he set out to observe health care workers in their everyday routines.

Chirag found that health care workers experience stress and exhaustion from sifting through databases and repositories to make crucial referrals for their patients, while studies show that over half of health care workers find referral-making challenging.

Picture riding a bike in heavy downtown Toronto traffic: “you’re constantly dodging distractions, big trucks, cars, other bikes, and people. You’re making your way in a zig-zag fashion, and moving forward demands intense amounts of concentration and energy,” shared Chirag.

“That’s exactly how it feels to be in a session with someone who is in pain, in a disaffected and vulnerable state sharing information with the caregiver. Meanwhile, the caregiver must capture all the information and arrive at the final resource plan for the care recipient to receive the help and treatment they need and deserve.”

Chirag and his team designed Spotlight, an AI tool that conducts the task of searching, identifying and collating resources, providing viable and relevant continuity of care options. This flagship product takes the form of a button that health care workers use during sessions; it quietly tabulates the optimal resource plan by matching care recipients with resources based on their lived experiences. Spotlight currently makes 5,000 weekly interactions related to a health care worker's role, with the goal of reducing their mental exertion by 93%. Their target for 2026 is to beat the status quo by making 5 million interactions that support health care workers.

Honest Empathy Innovations is a group of tenacious people, including their team, investors, board members and ecosystem partners. Chirag’s entrepreneurial journey has taken him from the Yukon to Toronto and places in between, meeting people who share his vision along the way. He is grateful that the company was founded in the Yukon, where he accessed funding and expertise through YukonU I&E and the Government of Yukon’s Economic Development Department. “I find we’re successful not in spite of being in the Yukon but because Yukon is our home,” Chirag shared.

In Toronto, NEXT Canada CEO Kyle Winters has also been a close personal advisor, mentor and friend to Chirag as he propels the company forward. A recent highlight came when Chirag had the chance to meet with Premier Ranj Pillai to discuss the future of their company and entrepreneurship in the Yukon.

As Chirag’s commitment to health care innovation grows, he maintains a steadfast connection to his roots; he traces his work back to growing up surrounded by his parents and grandma who were “irrationally” passionate about his well-being, which instilled a desire in him to design a better, more perfect world with experiences that boost kinship and ties with others. 

“I have been a beneficiary of a loving family, outstanding public education, public support for our company, and the generosity of strangers who believe in non-profit organizations such as NEXT. These people and institutions, who took a bet on me, sustain my commitment towards building a strong company in the Yukon, for Yukoners who are clients, employees, and investors.” Chirag says, “We are working towards protecting millions of caregivers from burnout across Canada and the US. Quoting a line from Scott Galloway’s work—I believe greatness is found in the agency of others—and I welcome you to become a partner, employee and a friend of ours.”

Learn more & get in touch with Chirag: peersupport.io/