Porchlight, for reporters and editors

The one-paragraph version

Porchlight is a life-story tool for assisted-living and memory-care communities. A resident taps one large button on a tablet, hears a question about their life read aloud, and talks. Porchlight transcribes what they say, chooses a thoughtful next question, and turns the conversation into three things the building could never afford to produce by hand: a Know Your Resident briefing so a new aide can connect on their first shift, a morning digest of story highlights for the activity director, and a private page where the resident's family can listen and record a reply. The stories are the mechanism; a resident who feels known is the point.

Why it exists

Person-centered care is the documented standard in senior living, and it rests on one thing nobody has time for: knowing sixty residents as people. An activity director cannot sit with each of them for an hour. A caregiver on their first shift knows a room number and a care plan. Adult children four states away get a monthly phone call that runs out of things to say. Porchlight was built so that the resident does the talking, on their own time, and everyone else gets the benefit.

Facts you can print

How it works, in four steps

1. Staff add a resident by first name and print a QR card. That is the whole setup.
2. The resident (or an aide with them) scans the card, taps Tell your story, and answers a question read aloud. Sessions can be any length and can happen any day; the question track never repeats.
3. Each answer is transcribed. The next question is chosen from what was just said, so a resident is never asked about a spouse they didn't have.
4. Staff get the briefing and the digest; family get the private page. Nothing is shared with a family member the community hasn't invited.

Story angles we can support with specifics

• The first-shift problem. Staff turnover in assisted living runs high; every new aide starts from zero with every resident. What a two-paragraph briefing in the resident's own words changes.
• What AI is actually good for in eldercare. Not diagnosis, not companionship bots: choosing the next question in a conversation and doing the transcription nobody has time for.
• The daughter four states away. Family engagement as the thing families actually judge a community on, and why the artifact that leaves the building matters.
• Reminiscence, honestly. What the research does and does not show about life review and mood in older adults, and why we do not make clinical claims.
• Building for people who will not come to bingo. Designing a product for a 90-year-old: one button, no passwords, a voice that reads.

Screenshots

These are from the sample community (Cedar Grove, fictional residents) and may be reproduced with credit to Porchlight. Full-resolution files on request. You can also walk the same sample community yourself, no login needed: app.porchlight.ing/demo.

Boilerplate

Porchlight is a life-story and family-connection tool for senior-care communities. Residents tap one button and talk about their lives; Porchlight turns what they say into a staff briefing that helps every caregiver know the person in the room, a morning digest for the activity director, and a private page that keeps families close. It is free for communities during its pilot period. Porchlight was founded by Patrick Donahue, a Seattle-area software engineer, and is a Levelbrook product. Learn more at porchlight.ing.

Name and pronunciation: "Porchlight", one word. Tagline: Every story deserves a light left on.