![\"Papa](\"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/19-0626-papa-pals-memphis-696x522.jpg\")
\nGrowing with popular demand, Papa\u2019s platform connects older adults with college students for companionship and assistance to aid the loneliness epidemic in aging adults.<\/p>\n
MIAMI, Fla., June 27, 2019 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Papa, a leader in the Elder Tech industry announced they have expanded services to California, Illinois, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Papa is expanding beyond its current markets of 19 cities throughout Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Papa Pals support older adults with transportation, household chores, technology, and companionship. The Papa Pals are like \u201cGrandkids On-demand!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nGrowing with popular demand, Papa\u2019s platform connects older adults with college students for companionship and assistance to aid the loneliness epidemic in aging adults.<\/p>\n
\u201cLoneliness has a huge negative impact on older adults\u2019 lives and it\u2019s a silent health epidemic people aren\u2019t speaking about,\u201d said Andrew Parker, founder and CEO of Papa. \u201cThe nucleus family is no longer together; people are busy and families are working. Older children want to give their parents and grandparents the support they need, so they send a Papa Pal. Our growth in new cities gives more people the chance to give their families the support they need.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to a study by Brigham Young University (*note 1), loneliness shortens a person\u2019s life by 15 years, which is about the same impact as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The AARP Loneliness study (*note 2) estimates that 42.6 million adults age 45 and older are chronically lonely.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Papa Pals help the older adult they are taking care of as well as the caregiver. People need a support system they can rely on. With our expansion in new cities, we will be able to give our service to more aging adults and caregivers.\u201d said COO Alfredo Vaasmonde.<\/p>\n
Nilsa Torres, a caregiver who has taken care of her mother her entire adult life started using a Papa Pal every day for the past few months. She said, \u201cBeing a caregiver for so many years, I feel like I don\u2019t have a life. I don\u2019t have that additional help from family members. She [Papa Pal] has breathed new life into our lives. When I come back even if it\u2019s like three hours, four hours I\u2019m a brand new person emotionally. It de-stresses me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Papa is expanding at a healthy rate to keep up with the growing demand of seniors and elders who need extra assistance. The platform that developed in Miami has rapidly grown in a little over a year. By the end of 2019 Papa plans to open 20 new markets around the country.<\/p>\n
Learn more: https:\/\/www.joinpapa.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n Papa is a Miami startup that has Grandkids On-Demand who provide assistance and companionship to senior citizens throughout Florida, California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Illinois, and Kansas. Papa launched their service in January of 2018.<\/p>\n Twitter:\u00a0https:\/\/twitter.com\/join_papa<\/a> References – notes:<\/em> *PHOTO link for media: Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/19-0626s2p-papa-pals-300dpi.jpg MIAMI, Fla., June 27, 2019 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Papa, a leader in the Elder Tech industry announced they have expanded services to California, Illinois, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Papa is expanding beyond its current markets of 19 cities throughout Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Papa Pals support older adults with transportation, household chores, technology, and companionship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7267,"featured_media":49580,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[353,1,80,14,134,61,407,199,559],"tags":[11522,11523,7451],"class_list":["post-49595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senior-citizen-news","category-business-news","category-employment-news","category-florida-news","category-general-editorial-news","category-health-medical-news","category-miami-news","category-new-location-news","category-products-news","tag-elder-tech-industry","tag-papa-pals","tag-seniorcare","has-post-title","has-post-date","no-post-category","no-post-tag","no-post-comment","has-post-author"],"acf":[],"views":8497,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7267"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}About Papa: <\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nFacebook:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/joinpapa\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\n*note 1: https:\/\/theweek.com\/articles\/815518\/epidemic-loneliness<\/a>
\n*note 2: https:\/\/www.americannursetoday.com\/loneliness-epidemic\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\n*Photo caption: The Papa Pals are like \u201cGrandkids On-demand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"