US start-up launches virtual health services for college women

A US digital healthcare company supporting young women has announced the rollout of its virtual services on campuses across New York, California, Ohio and North Carolina.

Caraway will provide virtual access to mental, physical and reproductive care services for four million college women, representing 25 per cent of college women in the US.

The company provides on-demand access to online healthcare services in an effort to help college women get the care they need.

“Caraway is taking action to address the needs of college women+”, said Caraway CEO and co-founder, Lori Evans Bernstein.

“At a time when colleges are acutely aware of the need to improve student life because of the growing mental health epidemic and increasing barriers to reproductive care, Caraway offers a solution which provides personalised healthcare services, support and guidance for women+ to gain independence and agency in their healthcare decisions.”

With the intensifying demand for healthcare services from the US’s population of approximately 15 million college women, the company began offering its services in New York in early September with a fast-follow in California.

Now, this month, the firm extends its offerings in Ohio and North Carolina.

Caraway currently has members on 34 college campuses and universities and has recruited an initial cohort of campus advisors, student interns representing a diverse and entrepreneurial group of women spreading awareness among their peers.

The company aims to provide care for people of all gender identities and expressions and design services around all women and individuals assigned female at birth.

Camden Robertson, 19, a Caraway campus advisor at Pace University, said: “Women have consistently been left behind in the health space, especially women of color, women with low incomes, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

“We cannot be active in building a better world if we do not first have access to what keeps our minds and bodies healthy.”

The start-up wants to offer patients better collaboration with their doctors as well as access to care through its app, allowing users to contact nurse practitioners, get referrals to in-person care and order home tests for UTIs and STIs.

“We learned almost immediately that our clinical model is spot on and members love it,” said chief health officer, Dr Cheryl Baggeroer.

“Our first appointment was a distillation of the care, support and education that is fundamental to the needs of college women+ – a prescription for affordable contraception, help with navigating insurance roadblocks, and care for mental health.

“For many of our members this is their first time accessing healthcare independently which creates a great deal of anxiety.

“We are hearing responses like, ‘I wish I had this the second I turned 18!,’ ‘You actually explained to me why this is happening,” and ‘I have never experienced a more thorough doctor encounter before.”

Founder, Evans Bernstein, added: “The mission and vision of Caraway are especially important in these turbulent times when a woman’s right to make their own healthcare decisions is being challenged.

“We are dedicated to working alongside college communities so that every young woman feels safer, healthier and has the care, information and support they need and deserve.”

Caraway plans to expand further throughout the US. Its services are available via the Apple App Store and Google Play.