When the System Fails, Advocates Step In: Solace Health Is Rewriting the Patient Experience

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Solace Health, the leading healthcare advocacy platform, today announced its inclusion in “Age Reimagined,” a new branded series presented by the Global Coalition on Aging and produced by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions, exploring how individuals and organizations are responding to a rapidly aging world.

By mid-century, the global over-55 population will double to 2 billion. For the first time in history, older adults will outnumber the young. Ensuring that health spans rise alongside lifespans is one of the defining challenges of our time—and the U.S. healthcare system continues to ask patients to navigate its complexities alone. Solace addresses that gap by pairing patients with dedicated healthcare advocates through its HIPAA-compliant platform, who manage the real work of navigating care so patients can focus on getting better.

The series brings that mission to life through real patient stories. Jose Madera spent more than a decade living with unexplained symptoms before his partner, Jessica Sellars, found Solace and connected him with Victoria Ibrahim, a patient advocate and former pediatric nurse. Ibrahim arranged specialist appointments, secured coverage for housing and transportation, and helped Madera finally receive the Parkinson's diagnosis he had been waiting years for.

Ibrahim now advocates for Sellars too, whose traumatic brain injury left her struggling to navigate the system until Ibrahim's advocacy helped her access testing that suggests years of seizure activity may finally be treatable.

“It feels very different having someone that can navigate the system. Not being out at sea, trying to figure it out on our own. That’s really powerful,” said Sellars.

Mitch Halper, another Solace patient, reached a turning point after surgery left him unable to perform basic daily tasks. Connecting with advocate Lindsay Cellona changed everything. "After the surgery, I couldn't pick up a spoon. My body was just fragmented. But once I met Lindsay, I could just feel that for the first time in weeks, I spoke to someone who had a sound of actually caring. Within three days, my life began to turn around," he said.

That kind of connection is what sets advocacy apart. "Advocacy offers so much that traditional nursing does not. Yes, you are advocating for them, but if your relationship is really great, they're also advocating for you too," says Cellona. Michelle Perna, Cellona's wife and fellow advocate who introduced her to Solace, puts it simply: "Hope is one of the most important things, especially when it comes to healthcare. That emotional support and self-belief goes so much further than anyone could ever imagine."

Jeremy Gurewitz co-founded Solace after his mother, a radiologist, struggled to navigate her own cancer diagnosis despite her medical background. Since launching in 2022, Solace has helped tens of thousands of patients, caregivers, and families through experienced healthcare advocates who bring an average of 16 years in the field.

“Patients and advocates are at the core of everything that we do. We want to bring humanity back to healthcare,” said Gurewitz, CEO and cofounder of Solace Health.

The “Age Reimagined” installment is available now.

About Solace Health

Solace Health (Solace) is a digital platform that connects patients with expert healthcare advocates who navigate the healthcare system on their behalf, improving outcomes and reducing system friction. Founded in 2022 by Jeremy Gurewitz and Sara Sargent after their own experiences with a fragmented healthcare system, Solace empowers patients to take control of their care journeys. Solace advocates coordinate appointments, manage treatment plans, and ensure continuity of care, helping patients and families overcome the obstacles that stand between them and better outcomes. Learn more at www.solacehealth.com.