The entrepreneurial journey of Charu Raheja, Founder & CEO of Continuwell & TriageLogic Group began 7 years ago, when her father expired. Initially, her father started complaining about a persistent stomach ache, but did not seek immediate care as he didn’t think it was serious. Tragically, he lost his life the next day from a sudden heart attack. While traumatic, Charu learned about many stories where people overlooked serious illness symptoms. One year later, Charu left her successful academic career to run a company that would provide people with easy, affordable and 24/7 access to a trained health provider, assessing the seriousness of their symptoms.
Sadly, her personal health scare did not end there. In 2014, Charu, herself suffered a hemorrhagic stroke while on a vacation. It was the protocols used by those nurses who determined that she needed to be taken to the ER immediately. This massive stroke left her with temporary yet devastating outcomes; Charu lost her memory, had trouble with language and walking, and recurrently suffered from migraines and depression. Owing to this, she became introverted and panicked while meeting and communicating with others. Yet, Charu persisted, retrained and pushed herself to get back to the baseline and developed new skills.
Professionally, Charu strengthened her commitment to ensure that everyone has an access to health professionals and resources. In 2017, she expanded the scope of her business to develop a mobile application in health and wellness. This new application allows any company or organization to consolidate all their employee resources into one single mobile app with free 24/7 access to live health ambassadors imbedded into the application. Till date, Charu and her team continue to innovate and develop new ways to save lives by making healthcare affordable and accessible.
Journey of Defeating Challenges & Emerging Victorious
TriageLogic Group has been fully self-funded from Charu’s personal savings and revenue. In the beginning, Charu placed a 100% mortgage on her house and depleted retirement and college savings to finance her company. Her husband, a paediatrician, left his job to dedicate himself to the daily business of their start-up, while she continued working full time as a finance professor to make the ends meet while starting TriageLogic. Being a first generation immigrant, Charu had no family backup to support the stress of a possible failure. At that time, she was leaving a successful academic career with tenure over to run a company with no guaranteed future.
But the biggest challenge, and the one that required most of Charu’s personal strength, was a stroke she suffered in 2014. After three surgeries and months of recuperation, Charu was mentally depleted and unsure of herself. By December of 2014, Charu had made some progress towards recovery and was determined to expand access to affordable 24/7 health and wellness support across the USA in the hopes that other people can avoid experiences like hers. Her personal health problems have also increased her empathy and desire to help others along with rich values which she has integrated into her company. Internally, Charu and her team now talk more about the impact they have on human lives. Ultimately, TriageLogic Group creates corporate value by saving lives, facilitating easy access to health resources, and empowering people to take charge of their health.
Established in 2007, The TriageLogic Group includes two brands, TriageLogic and Continuwell. TriageLogic provides telehealth software and services to some of the largest medical centres around U.S.A. It is part of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and covers over 25 million lives nationwide. Clients include large hospitals such as Atlanta Children’s Hospital, and Franciscan Alliance, among others. Continuwell promotes employee well-being through communication, engagement, and improved accessibility of company resources by members. Continuwell also includes free 24/7 access to health ambassadors. Both companies include enterprise solutions and mobile applications that improve access to health.
Standing Tall in the World of Healthcare
TriageLogic has managed to grow very quickly by providing innovative products, outstanding service, and expertise at an affordable price. It is their ability to recognize and predict trends and challenges customers face and develop products to solve those challenges prior to the customer requests. Whether it is a physician who wants their patients to have better access to their office and quality care or a manager who needs a more efficient way to communicate and educate their employees about company resources, TriageLogic provides a suitable solution for them.
Looking into the Nearest Future with Optimism
Acknowledging the contemporary industry shifts, the corporate environments as well as the healthcare industry are facing pressure to keep their patients and employees engaged, healthier, and happy, all the while, decreasing productivity loss and healthcare costs. The TriageLogic Group products focus on convenience, communication, health, and wellness, thereby creating a large opportunity to make a difference in peoples’ lives.
Striking a Fine Balance between Personal and Professional Life
According to Charu, one of her biggest strengths is adoptability, which she uses while running her company as well as in her personal life. She aesthetically combines her family and work life in such a way that she spends quality time with her kids while practising simple chores like playing and doing homework, in turn focusing on her professional tasks after they are asleep. Moreover, Charu credits her family, friends and professionals who help her in running her life smoothly.
Charu’s Thoughts on Facing Gender Bias
“Biases are everywhere. For example, I faced them in the field of academics while I was expecting. But, I think that people today are conscious of the biases and do their best to not get caught in them. At the end of the day, business is about productivity and innovation. People don’t worry so much about gender and color when what you produce is what they want.”
