Monica Stynchula

St. Petersburg, FL

I am a medical social worker and administrator (MSW, MPH) who retrained in electronic health record (EHR) technology for my encore.

My professional worlds collided when my parents, living 1000 miles away, faced the journey of my father’s metastatic melanoma. I experienced the benefits of how a well-executed enterprise electronic health record system served the institution where he was, but not the needs of our family.

That was it. I found my passion. I am the Founder of REUNIONCare.

We are changing the way we care for each other by creating Circles of Care around our vulnerable family and friends. We use the promise of big data and the EHR in our homes and communities to care for those we love.

Baby boomers experience the bittersweet experience of being the sandwich generation. Boomers are caring for their elderly, often ailing, at the same time they are raising children, sending them into adulthood.

Baby Boomers are stretched in all their resources:

– Time to spend to travel and assist our parents as the majority of us left our hometowns behind decades ago.

– Money to pay for all of the health care cost not covered by insurance as our parents struggle to age in place needing custodial care assistance which comes from our pockets.

– Emotional support as we watch our parents struggle as they lose abilities and transform from the parents we knew as working adults who now live with the limitations of multiple chronic conditions and social isolation.

Boomers must balance these new demands with demands our work life and raising our families. We are sandwiched. REUNIONCare is designed for us. We build a trusted Circle of Care around loved ones who share information with secure and responsive web application. We marry technology and a virtual social worker with the activation of family members as active health care team members. Doctors work directly with family members without hiding behind the flawed use of HIPAA protection.

Age stereotypes are handicapping all of us.  The calendar no longer indicates our skill set, level of intellectual curiosity, physical endurance or even appearance! Older workers possess decades of experience juggling so many demands and expectations. We can synthesize our collective experience and apply them to new industries.

Longevity gives us the time and energy to solve social problems leaving behind a legacy for generations after us to embrace.  Younger generations need to see our involvement as collaboration, not competition.

(Watch a video interview about encore careers featuring Monica, as well as Marc Freedman and Bevan Rogel of Encore Tampa Bay.)