Can AI Help Aging Parents Stay Independent Without Replacing Family? With Nick Mehdi

Caregivers often become responsible for the essentials: medications, medical appointments, finances, transportation and safety.

But what happens to the small moments that make an older adult’s life enjoyable?

In this episode, Jeanette Yates speaks with Nick Mehdi, co-founder of Donna, an AI phone companion designed for older adults.

The idea began when Nick noticed that his grandfather—a lifelong Detroit Tigers fan—kept missing baseball games because he did not realise they were on. His family was successfully managing the major responsibilities of caregiving, but smaller reminders connected to his identity, interests and enjoyment were getting lost.

Nick explains how Donna uses scheduled conversational phone calls to remind older adults about sporting events, appointments and everyday activities. He also shares why a phone conversation can offer something that a standard smartphone notification cannot.

Jeanette and Nick explore the difference between helping an aging parent survive and helping them thrive, as well as the responsibility technology companies have to protect privacy, consent and autonomy.

They also discuss why Donna is intended to add to family connection—not replace it—and why an older adult should remain in control of whether their call summaries are shared.

This conversation offers a thoughtful look at how technology might reduce some of the mental load caregivers carry while helping older adults remain connected to the interests and experiences that make life meaningful.

Chapters

00:00 – When Caregiving Conversations Become Logistics
01:34 – Watching a Parent Become a Long-Distance Caregiver
02:56 – The Missed Baseball Games That Started Everything
05:41 – Why Older Adults May Need More Than a Notification
06:28 – Finding a Co-Founder and Developing the Idea
08:03 – Why Voice AI Became Possible Now
09:48 – What Donna Actually Does
11:21 – How Older Adults Build Rapport With AI
13:26 – Surviving Versus Thriving in Older Age
15:32 – Supporting Human Connection Instead of Replacing It
17:50 – Why Small Reminders Fall Through the Cracks
19:20 – Privacy and Who Can Access Conversations
21:22 – Giving Older Adults Control and Consent
22:27 – Why Ethical Onboarding Takes Longer
24:13 – How Families Can Try Donna
26:14 – A Final Message for Caregivers

Donna (website)
App: Search “Donna Companion” in the App Store
Call Donna: 442-212-1723
Jeanette Yates website for caregiver support and care tech resources
Guest: Nick Mehdi on LinkedIn

Feeling overwhelmed by caregiving? 

In From Guilt to Good Enough, Jeanette Yates offers a powerful guide for struggling caregivers. Having been a caregiver for her mother since childhood, Jeanette knows firsthand the emotional toll caregiving can take. In this memoir-turned-self-help guide, she shares her healing journey, setting boundaries, and reclaiming her life.

Grab your copy TODAY!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There is a particular kind of guilt that never makes it onto any care plan. It's not the missed appointment, it's not the prescription you forgot to refill. It's smaller than that. It's hanging up the phone with your mother or father and realizing the whole call was logistics. Did you take this? Did you do that? I know that guilt really well. For many years, my calls and times with my mother were half-love and mostly inventory and logistics. My guest today didn't set out to fix caregiver guilt. He set out to fix something much smaller. Grandfather who kept missing his favorite baseball team's games on TV because nobody called in time to remind him. Nick Metty is the co-founder of Donna, an AI phone companion built for older adults. Today we're talking about the small things that slip through the cracks even in the most devoted family's hands and what it might look like to get some of that back. Hi, my name is Jeanette. I'm the founder of The Self-Caregiver. I cared for my own mother for several decades and now help caregivers set boundaries and use simple tools that make care and life easier so they can feel good, not guilty. And I am so excited to introduce everyone to Nick. We met on LinkedIn. He probably doesn't think he's as young as I do, but I consider him one of the young people in the world doing amazing things. So if you're ever down on the younger generations, Nick is one of the people I point to let you know the kids are all right. Anyway, sorry, Nick, if I made you feel too young, but I'm just so excited to have you on here today. And before we get to Donna, I want to start where you started. What is your connection to family caregiving?

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yeah, I mean, my I so I've never actually had to be like a full-time sort of quarterback of caregiving, I'd say this. I'd say my closest experience to caregiving is sort of seeing my mom as a caregiver. And she is sort of what I'd call like an awesome expert, passionate caregiver. She she kind of cares deeply for her parents. We sort of grew up in Seattle. She grew up in Michigan. Her parents were in Arizona. We like we've never actually lived in the same state as them. And as they've sort of gotten older, she's just always been on the phone, like calling caregivers and like coordinating them to make sure they're set, like scheduling appointments afar, always traveling. And so she's just like this awesome caregiver. And you know, I've sort of like seen what I'm sure a lot of your sort of audience has experienced that like caregiving's a it's like a full-time second job. Um, and she she's really sort of worked that job, and I think of her as like the model employee. And you know, my my grandparents have been lucky, they've never really had to go, you know, without someone that's gonna make sure they're like well taken care of, that they're gonna sort of just stay alive. She basically keeps the lights on. But also in my story, you know, I'd say like, well, like she does like this awesome job, model employee, her brothers, my uncles, like also are are really great too. I always felt like maybe something was like slightly sort of missing. Like I go spend time with my grandpa and he'd be like set taken care of. But maybe he like wouldn't be watching a favorite game of his. And I know you said this in the intro.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

That was sort of like my Yeah, this is one of my favorite stories that you tell. So, you know, your family all pitches in to help grandma and grandpa, but even when you were with him, you saw just like these little things that maybe they're too, you know, they are handling the big stuff, the finances, the doctor's appointments, so they might miss these little things. So this is my favorite story. So take your time, tell us all about the baseball.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Yeah, let me tell you all about it. And I think it's like a very, it's a small sort of order problem on the caregiving scale, but I think it's a very human one. So this is a story. It's like I was I was spending a lot of time last spring out in uh California where my grandparents are now, and they're in like an assisted living facility, but it's sort of like a thing where my grandma gets a lot of care, and my grandpa's sort of like left to his own devices, you know, but like uh so he's he's sort of like functionally alone with like these paid caregivers and we're around sometimes, sometimes not. And so like I'd sort of walk in his back door a lot of times while I was out there, and I'd go in to check on him and just hang out for a few hours, and when I'd walk in, he'd just have like the news on, you know, but it'd just be like blaring in the background. He's not really clocking into it. I was joking about this with a friend the other day, he's always on like three-month-old news of the news, anyways, because it takes a while for those like long-term stories to sink in.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

It like passes over news at some point and becomes just like got old gossip, like old, you know, it's like nobody's really yelling.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Yeah, I won't, I won't like talk politics on here, but like, yeah, some people just they just yell. And so I was like, oh. But you know, also my grandp was a huge baseball fan. So he I said he's from Detroit, he was sort of born and raised in Flint, he was a baseball coach. Detroit Tigers were like his life. And you know, if anyone has the time to watch 160 games a year, it's him. You know, it's like he should be able to watch these things. And I'm just like, so I'd walk in and like the news would be on. I'm like, I think like there's a pretty good game on right now. Like, why are we not watching this thing, Grandpa? And he'd be like, Oh, I didn't realize it was on, you know. And so we we tried for a while to sort of like calm and remind him they were beyond. I taught him like with as much as I could. Like we would even do like FaceTimes to get them set up on MLB TV, and it just it just wasn't clicking.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

This really resonates with me before you move on to the next, because I know the next part's gonna be Donna, but I come from a baseball family too, and so in our neck of the woods, it's the Atlanta Braves, and my family literally, we know I'm not so great at it, honestly. Sorry, dad. But I know that my cousins, most of my aunts and uncles, my dad, if there's an Atlanta Braves game on, everybody's watching it. So I'll like all over the country. And so that part of your story really resonated with me, but it was this observation you kept having, and like you said, you're you're trying to piecemeal the solution together and nothing was working. And is this how Donna shows up?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Yeah, I'd say this this is basically how the concept for Donna shows up. So I'm like, I'm I'm sort of spending that time and I'm thinking like it has got to be a better way to like get him reminded that these games are happening. But you know, when you've got someone who's maybe got like a little bit of short-term memory slipping, he knows he loves the team, but it's just like it's not really clicking. I'm like, I think you just sort of need that extra touch point. And so back then was sort of like the idea came to me of like, okay, it'd be really great to have something call him up, remind him to do it. Not like a reminder on the phone, he can't even use a smartphone, but even if he could, I think there's a difference between like a reminder buzzing and like something that's gonna actually chat him through, okay, this is how you'd maybe set it up, this is how the team's doing, and just sort of get you locked back in. So that was the that was sort of like the concept for it and and what what we sort of wanted to start building.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

And then you had a conversation, you went to a college reunion and you had a conversation, and that's that put some more seeds or fertilize or whatever. Fertilize, I don't know the metaphor I'm trying to say. But anyway, it fed the idea a little bit. Can you tell me a little bit more about that conversation and how that helped you flesh out more of what Donna might be like?

SPEAKER_01 6:49

For sure. Yeah. So it was it was a very sort of like serendipitous, sort of fortuitous thing. Like I'd I'd been sort of like out there for a lot of time with my grandpa thinking on this thing, and then I was at my college reunion a few months later. And like I have this good friend named David, like we're awesome friends, but we'd never actually worked together on anything. We live in different cities. I live in New York, he lives in Austin, and we were just sort of catching up, and it's not like the most, you know, normal environment to have like a sort of deep business-y, mindset-y idea-y conversation. Like we went to Princeton, and these reunions are sort of like this famous thing for people running around and they have like eggs everywhere and these tents, and it's party bills. Like the one time people actually cut loose is like once they've already graduated, which is very sad, but that's just sort of the way it is. And so, just in the midst of it all, you know, we were out and we were chatting, and he was basically telling me, hey, you know, I also sort of was feeling this way for my grandma, and so sort of independently we were sort of thinking through solutions, but we hadn't really sort of iterated in our heads. And I think having that conversation with him was awesome because we were like, oh, we'd love to sort of do this thing together. And then there it sort of sat for several months. I went back to my life, he went back to his until you know we sort of decided to pick it back up and and sort of take it full time. So it's very lucky to have that all come together.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Why, when you did pick it back up, and you can talk a little bit more about that, but why did it feel like the right moment to actually start building? Like, when did you know now it's time to start building this?

SPEAKER_01 8:13

I think it was a mix of everything. It was a mix of like really sort of like seeing the need in my own life with my own sort of grandpa. It was also having a friend like David, who's like super technically gifted. He can build everything that I wish I could build. You know, there's a lot of great AI tools that allow you to build something, but unless you can really architect it, you know, it you you sort of need someone special for that. And then also, like, I'll talk a little more about Donna and how it works in a bit. And when I do, I think what I'll say now makes more sense. But like the tech of the time doesn't didn't allow something like Donna to be built even like two years ago. So Donna's like a voice conversation and it needs to go back and forth. So you need like low latency, you need a model to be able to think, you need to be able to have very good memory to have this human adjacent sounding conversation. Donna's very much an assistant, it's not a fake human, but like to have it work the way you want it to work in the way that like a senior would expect.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Right. That was what I was gonna say. It also needed to be even better than maybe something you might use just for business or keeping you in the loop about something personally. It needed to be even better because of the the people that were going to be using it. There it needed to be more. Well, we're gonna get into it. Let's get into it. So I keep talking about Donna, and I know some people are like, how is Donna doing all this? The poor woman is probably on the phone all day. But as we mentioned, Donna is the tool that you build. And for a caregiver who's never heard of Donna, now's your chance. Now they're hearing about it. Walk me through what a day for like your grandpa would use if your family was using Donna. What does that actually look like?

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Yeah. So it varies. Yeah, during baseball season. So, so you know, Donna's Donna's meant to be pretty simple on purpose. So you, as like a caregiver, you'd set it up for your aging loved one and you sort of go, you download our app, you set it up, you know, you go through like a few onboarding steps. It takes you like three, four minutes, and then you schedule the times that you want Donna to call your senior parent. They can also call the number whenever they want once you're set up. And it's pretty simple. Like Donna can call them at a set time before a Tigers game, so I can set it up that basically five minutes before every Detroit Tigers game, it'll call my grandpa to let him know, like, hey, Jack, the team's about to start. I can also stay on top of things that matter, just like small appointments. So it's like if you know you're gonna get picked up at noon every day to like go somewhere, maybe this thing calls them at 11:30 or 11 that says, like, okay, it's time to like shower, it's time to get rolling. If like he is sort of frequently late. I know a lot of seniors maybe are punctual. Some I know are not.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Well, and it's hard to keep track of time these days. We talked a little bit about, you know, like the 20, you know, news and even if it's not news, TV is always on, there's all this going on. You can lose track of time very easily. So something like this would be just a way to support that. And another thing that I really like about what you're talking about too is this is not for the person, like you talked about your grandpa and your grandma. Your grandma needs more care. This is not for grandma. This is for grandpa. This is at a particular stage in your loved one's aging journey where they just need a little extra. Have you had a chance for people to start using this? And if so, what has surprised you most about how older adults are responding to it?

SPEAKER_01 11:21

For sure. I'd say, well, first I'd say, yeah, we're live, we're on the app store. So it's exciting. Anyone can kind of go download it, try it out. It's free right now. We're in like a free open beta, and people are loving it. It's been exciting to sort of like see how people use it and stick with it and enjoy it. And it's been really fun for us to build. So I think that what's like sort of surprised me most is like how you sort of build your rapport. And um, I I sort of I think I've said this to you before, but it's I I think of it almost sort of like as dating. So like if you go, if you're sort of like trying to schedule a first date, you know, there's some like awkward setup because you're trying to like pick a place that you think that like in my case, like you think that like she will like, or you're trying to pick a place that like you know you think will be good for the both of you. And then once you set it up, you know, you go on a few of those dates and you know, you pray that they're not too awkward, but like maybe there's gonna be some times that like you say something and it doesn't really compute for her, or maybe she's like a fast talker and you're a slow talker, but eventually, you know, like within there you hope that there's some early spark, and then you sort of like ride that spark with the awkwardness through to like a more dialed-in rapport. And that's that's what people have sort of described Donna, sort of like to me, too. It's like you gotta set it up, and like a part of our setup is like you gotta do this consent call. And it's important that we have a consent call because I want seniors to know, like, okay, I can opt into this thing, like it's something that's for me, it's not like getting pushed on me. But that's sort of like an awkward setup the date thing. And then your first few calls with Donna, Donna's gonna ask you more questions than normal. It might feel a bit interviewe, you know, for a lot of seniors. It's definitely the first time that they sort of talk to AI ever. And so then it's sort of like you're getting a feel for that rapport. But eventually, after you've had some calls, you're sort of dialed in, and it's like, okay, Donna knows what you like, you know what it likes, you know how you sort of talk, and you get to sort of really start to experience that magic of something that sort of knows you, that's helpful for you, that's thoughtful. It's quite cool. It's quite cool. But long-winded way of saying biggest learning for me is like how people's sort of journey with Donna evolve and how they really see the value of it after they've used it for a while.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

I love that. I love that. So you talked about the difference, and we've talked about a lot of this a few times offline as well. You've talked about the difference between what keeps an older adult surviving and what actually helps them thrive. And that's part of why you built this as well. Can you unpack that a little bit more and you can relate it to your personal experience or if you've heard from some of the families that are using it? Can you tell us more about that surviving versus thriving piece?

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Yeah, so I'd say on the surviving versus thriving, it goes back to like the cordonna story, which is like, I think the really hard parts of caregiving are helping your senior parents survive. You know, it's like getting their finances in order, it's helping them get the medical appointments, it's making sure they're healthy, it's making sure that the home that they live in is safe. Like that's hard stuff and it's really scary stuff. And so you're building this infrastructure just so that you can like have a good life. And I think that it's hard and confusing, but the answers are out there. If you like really dig and you really put in the effort, you're like, okay, this is how I get like my my parent dialed in or my grandparent dialed in. But then, like, you know, in the in my sort of research for Donna, you know, I was, I got, I talked to you, I talked to like a lot of people on like, okay, like what sort of next? And I think that's where a lot of people were confused. It's like, okay, I've done the hard work and we can survive. Now, how do we thrive, so to speak? And it's like, what do you do once you have that sort of infrastructure in place that sort of makes your life sort of worth living? And I think that's a very tough question. You know, I don't think there's a good answer out there. I hope that like Donna can help some people a little bit, but it's really just one fraction of it. You know, it's like social interaction matters a ton, hanging out with real people matters a ton. Obviously, as like a family, you want to go and show up or call your sort of senior parents a ton. But I just I don't know what like the answer is. And a lot of people I've talked to don't know either. And the hope with Donna is that like, okay, this thing will call you and it'll keep you on top of the things that matter. So you maybe feel more in touch. Like if you're into politics, it'll tell you about politics. If you're a big sports fan, you'll be up to date on your team. And then at least when you're talking to the other people in your life, you feel like more of a member of just like society and what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Well, and that that was gonna be my next question because, and we're gonna dive into basically exactly what you just said, but this is something caregivers really care about. And if they don't, they should. Caregivers, I'm looking at you. How do you, how have you made sure that something like Donna adds to that human connection instead of replacing it? So it, you know, it reminds your grandpa about the Detroit Tigers game and maybe even keep him, you know, if he happens to miss a game, keep him up with the scores. But how are we ensuring that, you know, that is actually just helping him stay in the loop with you when he talks to you or your other family members that might also be watching the Tigers games?

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Yeah, I think that that's like the grid question. And it's something that I sort of harp on all the time. It's like, let's say, let's say it's like you and it's your mom, and you're sort of in this just sort of like caregiver senior duo. Like if you're uh if your mom and you talk on the phone, let's say every Monday, or maybe you talk five days a week. Well, let's say, for instance, just you know, for math's sake, you talk every Monday and that's it. If you get Donna, I do not want you to stop talking on Monday. I definitely want you to continue talking on Monday. Well, let's say, like, your mom maybe is a little forgetful. Let's say you're sort of both fans of the Oscars, and let's say, you know, like I said, you talk every Monday. If I call my mom on Monday and we're chit-chatting, there's sort of two scenarios that can happen if she's a little forgetful. Sort of scenario one is like the night before on Sunday, she watched the Oscars, and we get to talk about the Oscars, and we get to talk about, oh, who we thought won, who we thought lost. Like, did you like it? Did you not? What'd you think? There's also scenario two, though, where it's like I call her on Monday as I always call her, and I go, hey mom, how was the Oscars? How do you think it was? I loved it. And she goes, Oh, I didn't realize they were on. You know, I missed it. And then it's like, you gotta move on to something else, and it's like, okay, kind of sucks. Like, my my hope is that with Donna, she maybe can call a few minutes before the Oscars start on Sunday afternoon and remind your mom, hey, tune in. It's on CBS or it's on ABC or whatever it is. And then your mom watches it, and then she's all the better for it when you guys talk on Monday. So it's really, I'd really harp on this point. It's meant to be an incremental touch point to all the sort of social connection you're getting, whether that's from family or a paid caregiver or friends, it's extra, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Well, and I love that too, because there is, you know, obviously it's like, why can't you just call your mom and remind her to watch the Oscars? But it's just for all of us, all of us who have been caregivers, especially long-term caregivers, or somebody, you know, like your mom and your uncles and whatnot, they're, you know, they have their own lives. They live in different places. There's all this stuff going on. And when you, you know, you're spinning all the plates or juggling all the balls or however you want to say it, like something's gotta give. And of all the things that are gonna give, it's gonna be like that phone call. That phone call is gonna be the first blip out of your brain. If you, if your brain has to hold on to all this other stuff, it's gonna be the first thing to go because it's not necessary for their survival, right? You're really working on surviving. So I love that you're just adding this in as a layer of just a little bit extra. And, you know, like you said, it's, you know, you created Donna to be friendly and conversational, but it doesn't, it's not a conversation in the sense that it's with a, you know, you still need that human interaction and human connection. That's another thing that I really admire about companies like yours as they're talking about their products and putting them out there, being really explicit about what it is and what it isn't. And I really appreciate that you talk specifically about this is not a replacement for family or human interaction or connection. This is supposed to be an extra touch point. It's not a safety net, it's not monitoring, it's not any of those things. I know we've talked about this before, but when we're using AI, there's also this concern about, you know, is Donna recording everything that we're saying? You know, where does that go? Who's it who can see it? You know, like you mentioned, Donna's number can be saved in the phone. Grandpa can call Donna. What's happening with that information? So I want you, you and I have talked about this and I and I liked your responses. So I want to give you the opportunity to share about how you've navigated that that privacy piece.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Yeah, it's it's an interesting one. So so from like a privacy between like sort of company and our caregivers and seniors, like I we sort of take the top privacy standards, you know, we don't look in on anything, we don't sell data, we don't do whatever. But like I think the interesting dynamic is that dynamic between the senior and the caregiver. I think we really want to be sort of senior first, and we want like seniors who use Donna to feel like, hey, this is my thing. This is sort of like my chat history, so to speak. And I want to be able to like have these conversations and enjoy them. And so part of like using Donna in general is that when you finish a call with Donna, your call gets transcribed and then a summary goes into the app. That way, like if I'm a senior and I say I'm not feeling so well or something cool happens or whatever, if I say it, then my caregiver will be able to sort of see that in the app and make sure, okay, they're sort of all good or something's wrong, or maybe there's like something I need to check in on. It's meant to be helpful like that, you know. But for but for seniors who don't want that, they can actually just tell Donna, hey, don't share my transcripts. They can also say up front when they're setting it up during the consent call, like with their family, you know, I actually want to keep this private. Like maybe they're a little more like with the tech, and they're like, I think it's awesome. I get to talk to this thing over the phone and it's gonna remember my stuff in a good way and help me out, but like I don't want you to know. Then then you can disable it. And so I think we we try to be super thoughtful about people's like chat history, so to speak. Just imagine like your chat history with like, you know, chat GBT. Maybe you don't want your kids like seeing that stuff, you know, and or maybe you don't care, but like whatever your preference is, like we've got you.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Right. And like we mentioned before, the demographic of the aging population, the seniors that are using this, is not someone that needs that constant monitoring. So it's not, you know, this person still does have the ability to make their own decisions in an appropriate way. And so I love that during the setup time, there is an understanding with the senior. There is a consent that they have to give, like, yes, I'm okay with using this. I'm okay with Donna, this AI tool calling me. I understand what that means. I think that is, you know, the fact that you're talking about this being a senior forward product is also very important and something I think is often. And miss today in when we're thinking about solutions, we're thinking about how to help the caregiver. But this is really about, you know, even when you think about the story of your grandpa, it was really not about your mom or your uncles. It was about how can I help my grandpa watch his favorite team? And so I think that's so sweet, but also very practical. And I think very important in this space of when we're talking about creating tools for the aging population.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

100%. And if you want some like sort of inside baseball on it, on like the sort of things that we're dealing with, it's like it's honestly even harder to do it that way, right? Like it's hard to build those like privacy considerations. It's hard to be thoughtful. Like for our sake, obviously we just want people getting on and using Donna and getting to like call number three or four with it when you get to see that magic. And sticking something like a consent call sort of in your onboarding makes it slower, makes it harder. All the sort of like app gurus out there and business professionals are like, make onboarding seamless, make it fast, you know. But it's harder to do it this way, but it's it's sort of the way that we think we think it's right to do it. And so, you know, for however many people sort of, you know, we lose when they're going through a tougher onboarding because they need to get their parent actually on the phone at the time to like answer the call and approve it. We're like, it's worth it because it's yeah, I think it is too.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

And I think, you know, I talk to a lot of companies about their onboarding process from the caregiver side too. Like you want it to be not difficult, but sometimes that means slowing down long enough to make sure everybody understands what's going on. And I think that's the most important thing because trust in the end is going to be what keeps a family using your product. And so, you know, I think that you're making a good decision. And like you said, sometimes the right thing isn't the easy thing. So, but you still do what's right. So this has been a wonderful conversation. And I want to give you a chance to talk specifically to a caregiver or family today that's listening and thinking about trying Donna for their own parent. By the way, I'm gonna put the information and how everybody can log in and get and get Donna started in the show notes and into the description of the video. But if you want to talk to them, what should they know about getting started? So you could talk us a little bit through that.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Yeah, I'd love to. I think, you know, anyone who wants to try it, I'd love you to try it. You know, it's it's free right now. It'll be sort of free trial for forever, or as you know, long as I honestly I don't I don't know. We're still we're still building, we're just letting people use it. But I think the big thing I want people to know is like, hey, if you want to test it out, you go on the app store, you download it. It's called Donna Companion, I think in the App Store. You'll put the link in for us. I just want you to like sort of use it in earnest, give it a try, enjoy it. If you if it feels awkward, you know, reference back to my dating example. It probably will feel awkward the first time or two. There's like there's so many sort of funny stories of people talking with like AI over the phone or digital assistants over the phone, and it's goofy, but at the same time, if you invest the time in it, I think it can really have meaningful payoff. So give it give it a try. Hopefully, stick with it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

So I have in my notes, and I just want to make sure this is right. Can listeners call a number and hear Donna?

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Yeah, so you so if you are not even set up on Donna, you can actually call the number. It's that's right.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

I got it. You want me to say it? And then you can tell me if I'm wrong. 442-212-1723 is the number you can call if you want to chat with Donna firsthand or check her out, see how things are going.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Yeah, perfect. So yeah, you call that number and hopefully Donna will pick up and you know, ask you who you are and ask you why you want to try it and chit-chat a bit. It's not gonna be the same as using it yourself because she's not gonna know anything about you, but it's it's it'll it's sort of it's more of a fun fun to do.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Right, and it knows about itself. So could I ask it like, is it a subscription?

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Yeah, so I think in the future we'll go subscription. So you basically will be able to, yeah. Right now, right now it's beta, but you, you know, it'll you'll call it up and you'll just chat with it and it'll be like, hey, who are you? Why do you want it? Can I tell you a little bit about me? Tell me a little, it'll ask you to tell you a little about it, and it can sort of show show itself off a bit. It's you know, not the same as like the actual Donna, but it's sweet nonetheless. So I'd say give it a fun try.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

That's so great. I love that. I'm gonna call it later today. I'm gonna call Donna later today. Okay, so what do you want caregivers listening today to walk away with? Like what's their what's one tidbit you want to say?

SPEAKER_01 28:18

I mean, I'd I'd say this to caregivers, and I think that this, you know, is is advice from someone who has never had to be the full-time caregiver. So I again take anything I say with like a grain of salt and take it from like the perspectives of someone that wants to be like the fun uncle of caregiving, maybe, and not like actually, you know, the person who's in the thick of it. I'd just say this. I think that like I know most people are struggling with the really hard stuff, like all the sort of medical stuff, all the finances, like that's the hard stuff. And I'd say like, like, keep at it. Like, what else are you gonna do? If you're sort of fortunate enough to be able to have that stuff somewhat under control, and now you're sort of looking to the next hierarchy of needs and being like, okay, now how do I sort of help my senior parent really sort of thrive in life? That's I think an even harder question. Maybe not a harder answer to get to, but that's like a much more open-ended thing. And I'd just say, look, if if that's what you're dealing with, you're definitely not alone. A lot of people are dealing with it. There's no good answers, and so the the best you can do is totally enough.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

And uh, I love that. The best you can do is totally enough. That's the quote for this episode for sure. I totally agree with that. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure and an honor talking to you. Uh, if you want to learn more about Donna, you can find them at callDonna.co or search Donna Companion on the App Store. Right now, Donna is free during their public beta and afterwards runs about $19 a month. And every plan includes unlimited calls, everyday reminders, and a summary in the app after every conversation, if the senior says it's okay. You can connect with Nick on LinkedIn and we'll drop that link in the show notes as well. If this conversation resonated with you, please share it with a caregiver in your life. And if you haven't already, subscribe so that you never miss an episode. You can find more resources at jeanette.com or check the show notes. Until next time, feel good, not guilty.