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Chris Gauthier and Jerry Dutreuil
Health Sitter Solutions LLC

Health Sitter Solutions, LLC, Christopher Gauthier

Title / Role: CEO
Location: River Edge, New Jersey
Formed in: 2021
www.healthsittersolutions.com
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My successes.

We are proud to now have a fully operational Patient Observation Center in River Edge, NJ along with a great group of well-rounded staff.  We are able to safely and effectively support hospitals throughout the nation with their remote video monitoring needs. We recently completed our three-year business plan which resulted in the approval of a NJEDC loan.

What do you do?

Health Sitter Solutions provides remote video monitoring services for patients at risk for falls and other safety incidents in a variety of healthcare settings on an on-demand subscription basis.  We provide a fully staffed 24-hour support and monitoring service; a subscription-based model with no equipment purchase or maintenance for institutions; An on-demand component to meet census needs in real-time and a tool to immediately support bedside clinical teams and improve the overall patient experience.  

What inspired you to start your business?

As a registered nurse with over twelve years of experience in the healthcare industry plus being an administrator for the past 5 five years,  Christopher Gauthier had seen firsthand the labor shortage overall and most recently with COVID-19. While looking for solutions for the different hospitals he worked for, he stumbled upon a company providing video monitoring devices for patients on enhanced observation. That piqued his curiosity. He could not understand why more hospitals were not adopting this technology. After more research, he understood that technologies like this were big projects that required capital investments, training, and extensive maintenance of the equipment. He also came to realize that hospitals were risk-averse when it came to implementing new technology. Working together, Chris and his partner, Jerry Dutreuil, developed Health Sitter Solution's unique full-service monitoring, on-demand subscription business model. 

Health Sitter Solutions provides remote video monitoring services for patients at risk for falls and other safety incidents in a variety of healthcare settings on an on-demand subscription basis.  We provide a fully staffed 24-hour support and monitoring service; a subscription-based model with no equipment purchase or maintenance for institutions; An on-demand component to meet census needs in real-time and a tool to immediately support bedside clinical teams and improve overall patient experience.  

What's special about your business?

Health Sitter Solutions provides remote monitoring as a service and is based on a subscription model. Hospitals do not have to come up with the capital upfront and train staff. Since it is a subscription, a hospital does not have to worry about the associated maintenance.  In addition, Health Sitter Solutions provides devices On-Demand. One of the issues with enhanced observation is that patient census (count) varies from day to day.  With our On-Demand program, Hospitals can now order additional devices as they need and return them when they don’t. Finally, the remote monitoring comes fully staffed with Virtual Safety Associates available 24/7. This not only helps hospitals control their cost but also the flexibility to adjust during staff shortages and holidays.

What influenced you to seek help from SCORE?

SCORE was recommended by a colleague who experienced the vast amount of resources offered by industry-experienced mentors at no cost to his company.  It's almost like having a board of advisors from day one of your business.

How SCORE helped.

We started working with SCORE and our mentor Jim from the very start of our business. Jim Madormo assisted us with revamping our business plan to make it easier to communicate with investors, banks, and other financial institutions.  His help in preparing our current year's financials and a three-year business plan resulted in the approval of a NJEDC loan.

We are proud to now have a fully operational Patient Observation Center in River Edge, NJ along with a great group of well-rounded staff. We are able to safely and effectively support hospitals throughout the nation with their remote video monitoring needs.

 

What's great about my mentor?

Jim's background as an accountant and a business owner was essential to revamping our business plan and improving our communication with investors and banks He introduced us to  SCORE mentor  Deborah Newkirk, who worked with us to give our client presentation a well-deserved upgrade and clear message.  We also worked with a variety of other SCORE mentors and high-level leaders in the healthcare industry who provided us with invaluable feedback about our market approach and service delivery. 

What advice would you give to someone thinking of starting a small business?

There is so much advice that could be shared with someone starting a new business. First, be prepared to be fully immersed in your service or product. Spend extensive amounts of time with your target clients and understand what needs they have. Be flexible and adaptable to learn from the experiences that will come along the way and don’t be afraid to make the appropriate adjustments to reach your goals. Lastly, spend time understanding all the avenues in which you could raise the right amount of capital for your business, this starts by finding the right mentors and partners who could guide you along the way.

What would you tell a fellow business owner about SCORE?

Don't hesitate to reach out for a SCORE mentor!

Additional media
Chris Gauthier and Jim Madormo
My mentors
Headshot of Jim Madormo
Jim Madormo

CPA in public accounting for 42 years providing business and tax consulting and preparation for...

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Headshot of Deborah Newkerk
Deborah Newkerk

I spent my entire career in marketing and advertising, specializing in direct marketing (1:1) and...

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712 H St NE PMB 98848
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Washington, DC 20002
1-800-634-0245

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