There are 12.7 million informal family caregivers supporting people with dementia in the US, more than twice the size of the entire nursing workforce, and most receive no formal training.

At the Civic Health Forum, Zinnia CEO & Co-founder Bill Uniowski – a member of the StartUp Health community since 2024 – shared how his company built a streaming platform specifically for the dementia brain: slow-moving, dialogue-free content that reduces agitation instead of causing it, delivered through a device families already have, the TV. Backed by seven published papers with the University of British Columbia and an NIH-funded study with Duke Health, Zinnia has partnered with UCLA's Alzheimer's and Dementia Care program and the New York State Department of Aging, and just expanded into 250 Sunrise senior living communities nationwide.

For caregivers, the impact often shows up in small, profound moments, like a daughter hearing her mother laugh for the first time in years.