An Interview with Bill Uniowski, Startup Co-Founder and CEO of Zinnia TV
Paul: I just wanted to, first of all, thank you for doing this. And I think it’s really important for me to educate our volunteers as to what’s out in the world and ways that they might be able to take advantage of different technologies and opportunities. And so Zinnia, of course, is one of those technologies. I think this is one of those opportunities for the volunteer to learn what Zinnia is about and take advantage of it.
Bill: I really appreciate the opportunity to tell you all about Zinnia today and get the message out to your volunteers and people who could really make the best use of it.
Paul: Great. So, okay, so what inspired you to create Zinnia TV?
The Inspiration Behind Zinnia TV
Bill: Zinnia was inspired by my co-founder, Allyson. She was a dementia family caregiver to her husband, Evan, who was diagnosed with Frontotemporal dementia at 47. She was driven to do the best she could for him as a family caregiver. When he went to live in a community, she was looking for ways to best support him and enhance his quality of life.
She threw herself into education, got trained and got involved with lots of teaching in dementia. She was disappointed when she’d visit her husband at a community and see his wheelchair pushed up against a TV watching something that the caregivers wanted to have on.
It had nothing to do with him or his interests. It didn’t align to where he was cognitively, and she could tell he was getting frustrated and agitated by it. So, she got curious and did some research into what good media is for people living with dementia. She found a few papers out there, but not much. Based on what she found, she started creating videos using pictures that were on her phone of their kids and their pets and their vacations.
And she found that those were really good ways to sit together, watch something, talk about what they were seeing. It aligned with him and his interests. It was slow-paced and gentle, with maybe a little bit of music in the background. And it really made for positive experiences for both of them.
So, she got curious and said, “Okay, that’s great. But I want more than just the stuff on my phone. I want things that I’ve been to, like hiking or skiing. Where are those kinds of videos?” Through various networks, she got connected with a small team of people, including me, who wanted to help her build this.
She put out a compelling vision. I had dementia in my family with grandparents, and I had seen the caregiving challenges experienced by relatives. I thought to myself, “You know what? This is something I really get behind, and I think it could do a lot of good.”
And so, we just started with that. We had day jobs, and we did this on the side. We’d meet once a week, and then we’d do some work, and then we’d get back together. That started in 2019, and we slowly tested and iterated on the content. We worked with members of a support group that Allyson facilitated and tested in long-term care communities where she taught. Various things happened along the way to bring us to where we are today.
Paul: That’s really, for me, a story that talks about when people are exposed to something, and then these ideas are borne from that. And so, for those of you that are for people that might be unfamiliar with Zinnia TV and its objectives, could you talk about that?
What is Zinnia?
Bill: Zinnia is therapeutic TV for dementia.
It is a streaming service like YouTube or Netflix. You can get it on your TV apps, or you can get it on a tablet, and all of the content has been built specifically to be digestible by and engaging for people living with dementia. We’ve learned what works through research and iteration. We build the videos, it’s in a way that is heavily visual, slow paced and without confusing plots or dialogue.
We basically strip away anything that is problematic about regular TV for people with dementia – loud noises, inappropriate topics, fast moving visuals. We also made a large catalog featuring a wide variety of topics to help caregivers choose something that helps connect with that person’s interests and their background.
There are many ways to use Zinnia. One key use is to create connection and engagement. Watch it together. Use it to reminisce. Have something in common to talk about.
The other one is to redirect someone who might be agitated or upset about a certain thing, and move them to something that they love by showing them a video of a topic that really resonates with them.
We have instances where people who experienced agitation were regularly given antipsychotic medication. And now, because of the success of video or a particular video with them and their interest, it calms them down, and it means that you can do this non-pharmacologically.
We also have content that is focused on activities of daily living. If people with dementia are resistant to drinking water, getting dressed, or taking a shower, these videos help to model or prompt those behaviors by showing people doing the thing successfully.
We did two years of research at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver General Hospital, and one of their main findings was that the activities of daily living videos were effective but even more so used as part of a routine.
Routine is really important in dementia care. If you watch the “Let’s Drink Water” video every day at 11, Mom is more likely to drink some water.
Feedback from Caregivers
Paul: That’s great. That’s absolutely great. So what kind of feedback have you got then, from caregivers?
Bill: Well, the great thing is that, because our platform is easy to use and affordable, we can support caregivers living at home, as well as senior living communities and professional caregivers. So we get all sorts of positive testimonials back from people.
We receive emails from people telling us how it helps them to stay calm as a caregiver and reduces their own stress because they know that they can put something on to make their loved one happy.
We have a “Just Fun” video that’s very silly. We had one caregiver tell me that they know that they can put this on, and their husband will laugh reliably for 10 minutes straight, and it gives her so much comfort to hear him laughing, experiencing humor and joy.
So, lots of things like that. When we get emails from caregivers to cancel their Zinnia subscription, it’s often because a loved one has passed on, but their caregivers tell us that it made the last period of that person’s life positive. It gave them some quality of life to be able to watch something, enjoy it, reminisce and spend time together.
We receive all sorts of positive feedback. Zinnia is great when family members come to visit. They don’t know what to do with their loved one.
We had a story of a woman whose family was visiting her in long-term care. She didn’t want to get out of bed. She was lying there with her eyes closed. Didn’t engage at all with her family. And it was looking like it was not going to be a great visit, but then a staff member said, “Well, tell me, what were your mom’s hobbies?” And they said she likes to sew, so she pulled out a tablet and pulled up the Zinnia ‘Sewing’ video.
At the very beginning of that video, there’s two really great sound effects of scissors cutting thread, and it’s very distinctive. When the woman heard that, her eyes opened up, and then she started watching the video a little bit, and then she sat up, and then she opened up. The family was able to have a conversation and talk about the things that Mom would make for them. And it just made it a really positive experience for everyone.
Overcoming Misconceptions
Paul: That’s great! And what’s running through my mind right now is I’ve heard over the years, people that just really don’t understand what’s going on. They’ll say something like, “Oh, they’re not there anymore.”
Well, nothing could be further from the truth. As Dr. Al Power teaches, we have to find out where they are and join them there. And I know I’ve had similar experiences with music as I’m playing, in the memory care. No one really knows what the date is or who the president is, right, but they know all three verses to Amazing Grace.
Bill: Yes! And people will surprise you. We created some quiz content, little games about various topics, and it’s something that activity directors like to use. It’s a very easy thing to do, and they can use it as a jumping-off point for conversation and other things during an activity.
In one community, there was a gentleman sitting in the back of the room. Based on the staff’s experience with him, he was nonverbal and never spoke. They put on an American literature quiz, and there was a question about the poem “The Raven.” All of a sudden, in the back, they hear “Edgar Allen Poe.”
And they look at each other like, “Where’d that come from?” And it was the gentleman sitting in the back who, it turns out was a writer for the Los Angeles Times and clearly was into books and literature and poetry. That was his thing, and that was the door that they could use to open up to him.
Ease of Use
Paul: That’s amazing. That’s really amazing. So, as far as the technology, how complicated is it? What’s the physical item? Are they using iPads or…
Bill: We know that whether you’re a family caregiver or in a long-term care community, ease of use is vitally important. If it’s not easy to use and doesn’t fit in the workflow, it’s not going to get used. Zinnia is an app that can be downloaded onto connected TVs like Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Android TV, or Samsung, or it can be downloaded onto a tablet.
Once it’s there, you can have videos at the push of a button on the tablet or using the remote. It works just like YouTube or Netflix. Just open up the app and scroll through to the video that you want. We have videos, and we have categories. If you go into a category like nature or animals or places, you can run them on a loop.
You can be confident if you need to briefly step away, knowing whatever comes on will be dementia friendly. There won’t be any commercials to interrupt things.
Paul: That’s great. And I think that’s really important too, that the technology doesn’t get too complicated, that it’s user friendly. So ,this sounds like something that people can download on whatever device they have and really use it almost immediately.
Bill: Yes, absolutely. It’s simple to use. We even have the ability to download certain favorite videos on the tablet to use in offline mode. If the family is going to a doctor’s appointment, and you want something in the waiting room or while traveling, you can have those core Zinnia videos that resonate with your loved one handy to keep that routine and to have an anchor.
Zinnia in Long-Term Care Communities
Paul: Now, is this something a nursing home could use to put it on their big screen TV?
Bill: Yes, we have almost 200 senior living communities that use Zinnia, mostly in memory care, some in assisted living. They typically use it on common area televisions around the community. They also might have some iPads for staff to use, one-on-one in someone’s room, or for families visiting. It’s not something they generally recommend in individual resident rooms because they want people out in the community interacting with the others.
Some communities like to have it running in the background all the time in a common area because it’s something beautiful on the screen. It’s calming. It’s something that someone walking by might stop to watch and talk with another resident.
It can also be used as part of a structured activities program. Say it’s Valentine’s Day, and you’re making Valentine’s Day cards as the day’s activity. You could watch our video called “Be Mine.” We have a video about roses, and we have a video about chocolates. All of those can be played beforehand or in the background or after the activity and people when are settling down after a period with a lot going on.
Creative Content Ideas
Paul: So, have you thought about doing something with cheesesteaks?
Bill: (laughing) We always take recommendations, and that’s where we get most of our ideas. People suggest different videos to make. And we do. We don’t have Philly cheesesteaks, but we do have some food-related videos about different places.
Volunteer Access to Zinnia
Paul: All right, I had to throw that in there. Sorry. All right. So, as you know, we are busy recruiting and training volunteers to visit people in nursing homes. Could a volunteer access something like this? How would that work?
Bill: Well if a volunteer had their own iPad, they could download the Zinnia app. We are a subscription service. It’s $9.99 a month or $69.99 a year. Individuals can use it across various devices to stream an unlimited amount of content.
We also offer a 14-day free trial for people to try it out and make sure it works for their situation. Everyone with dementia is different, and so certain things work for certain people. Dementia also changes over time, and so maybe there’s a time where it doesn’t work, but later they’re in a different stage, and it’s more appropriate.
People ask us all the time if Zinnia is just for mid to late stage dementia, and the answer is that it depends. We find that people of all different stages use it. We find that caregivers enjoy it, and it calms them down too.
It really varies based on the person, but it’s super easy to try.. We also always have free content available without having to sign up or join. We always feature about 20 or so different videos. The value and usefulness of Zinnia really comes from the size and quality of our content catalog. Having all the videos available helps caregivers find that specific thing that connects with the person’s interests or background and fills them with joy.
Looking Ahead for Zinnia
Paul: That’s great. So what’s, what’s in the future? What’s coming up for Zinnia?
Bill: We’re always creating new and different types of content, different formats. Our quizzes are relatively new. We create all of our content ourselves with a human editor, but we’re experimenting with AI to generate quizzes quickly and at scale.
When we have a community that says, “Hey, there’s a bunch of men who live here, and they don’t love the babies and animals, but they’re really into cars,” we can quickly create a Car Maintenance quiz which talks about oil changes, tire pressure and spark plugs.
We’re going to be doing more around that. A lot of communities like to do a Daily Chronicle highlighting famous things that happened that day in history. We’re building a series for that.
We’re also doing a lot with activities programming. We suggest monthly activities for activities directors and match them with Zinnia videos that fit. We’re also always looking for different collaborations with other content creators, to bring new and different videos to our viewers.
Paul: It’s really just amazing and must be a lot of fun. It must be very satisfying to be able to do this.
Bill: Yes, absolutely. We get amazing emails from people, and the feedback and gratitude we hear is really wonderful. I’m sure you and your volunteers understand that as well. You’re coming in, and you’re working and giving of yourself to support people who need it. It helps people who might not be in the best situation make things a little bit better.
Getting in Touch
Paul: So how, then, how do people get hold of you? Where do they start?
Bill: Our website is Zinniatv.com. We can be found in all the app stores (Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Android TV and Samsung) by searching ‘Zinnia TV’. We’re active on social media LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and a little bit on TikTok. We’re pretty easy to find. If you search Zinnia TV on Google.
Paul: Well, you could bring a whole new dimension to Tiktok, couldn’t you?
Bill: There’s a caregiver that we’ve worked with for years who has been taking care of her grandmother for a very long time. They’re very dedicated Zinnia users. She’ll often go live on Tiktok, and they’ll be showing their evening together. Grams might have on the “Going to Bed” video, or the “New York” video, or other things like that that really resonate with them.
Final Thoughts
Paul: Well, that’s great. Is there anything that we haven’t covered that you that we need to talk about?
Bill: It’s very important to us to ensure that Zinnia is evidence-based and research-backed. We did a two-year research project with the University of British Columbia and Vancouver General Hospital. They published multiple, peer-reviewed papers in journals.
We’re doing more work, specifically around Zinnia and agitation, with the Brenda Strafford Foundation in Canada. We’re doing some things with the VA Hospital in Durham, Duke University, and Massachusetts Digital Health.
It’s very easy to look at Zinnia from the outside and think, Okay, it’s just TV. It’s simple videos. Does it really work? What’s really behind it? My answer to that would be that it’s not made for you; it’s made for the person with dementia. It really takes watching it with someone with dementia to see the magic happen. Of course, we want to make sure we validate that, which means working with researchers and doing studies to produce evidence that Zinnia is effective.
Thank You!
Paul: That’s great. Well, thank you for taking time to go through this, and I’ll encourage our volunteers to take a look at the app and, download it, and use it during their visits. I think it’s great.
Bill: Thanks for the opportunity to talk about Zinnia and to introduce it to your volunteers, I appreciate all that you’re doing. There needs to be more volunteers in long-term care.
Paul: Thanks again, Bill, for taking the time to share Zinnia with us. And I think it’s a great thing, both for the volunteers themselves and the people who are being visited.
Visit Zinnia
To learn more about Zinnia, visit https://ZinniaTV.com
