Fabric Health, a healthcare startup founded in Philadelphia earlier this year, is working to close gaps in community care and to make healthcare more accessible to busy, low-income families.
And it’s doing so by transforming neighborhood laundromats into community wellness centers.
Fabric Health co-founders Allister Chang and Courtney Bragg believe laundromats are the perfect place to “meet community members where they are” and to provide them with health-related services in the idle time they have between washing and drying their laundry.
Since September, Fabric Health has been incorporated within five Laundry Café locations across Philadelphia. Currently, the startup offers healthcare enrollment assistance through a partnership with Pennie, Pennsylvania’s official health insurance marketplace. This was local laundromat users’ most highly requested service, Chang explained, noting that Fabric Health and the team at the Laundry Café spent more than 100 hours surveying laundry customers to best determine what community members needed.
In addition, Fabric Health has helped local families receive access to cheaper prescriptions, find new healthcare providers and navigate public benefit applications. The startup also is planning to offer seasonal services such as tax preparation.
“Our goal is to really understand what families want and need, and then work with great community partners to bring those resources to laundromats – where families already are and have time to participate,” Chang said.
