Non-Medical Companion Care · Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Someone in your corner,
every step of the way.

We accompany patients and older adults through medical appointments, daily outings, and complex care moments — and deliver a written summary to family afterward.

What We Offer

Three ways we show up

Every session is led by a trained companion who stays with your person from door to door — not just in the waiting room.

Most requested

Medical Appointment

We accompany the patient from home, stay through the consultation, document the doctor's instructions in plain language, and hand off a written summary to the family or next carer.

NT$1,800–2,100 / 3 hours

Daily & Social Outings

Errands, market visits, cultural events, restaurants — we provide safe, comfortable accompaniment so that going out stays possible, not just permitted.

NT$1,500–1,800 / 3 hours

The Process

From request to report

1

Book

Submit your request online. Tell us the date, type of appointment, any mobility or care notes, and who to contact.

2

Confirm

We review the request, confirm the fee, and assign the right companion — usually within 24 hours.

3

Accompany

On the day, your companion arrives at the agreed location, stays through the entire session, and handles logistics so the patient can focus on what matters.

4

Report

Within a few hours, family or the next carer receives a plain-language written summary — what happened, what the doctor said, what to watch for next.

Included in every session

  • Door-to-door accompaniment
  • Real-time notes during the session
  • Written summary delivered to family
  • Handoff package for the next carer
  • GPS location log (optional, with consent)

Service Boundaries

What we are not

Clear boundaries are the foundation of trust. We are a companion and documentation service — not a clinical one.

  • We do not diagnose, prescribe, or advise on medications. All medical decisions stay with the patient and their clinical team.
  • We do not provide nursing, physiotherapy, or any form of hands-on medical care.
  • We do not replace formal long-term or home care. We supplement it by covering specific outings and appointments.
  • We do not share client data with third parties. All notes and summaries stay within the family's designated contacts.

Common Questions

FAQ

Currently, all sessions are led by Ai-Lun Huang, the founder of Laguna Companion Service — a former caregiver who accompanied both parents through years of concurrent cancer treatment. Future sessions may be conducted by a small trained team.
Mandarin and English. Written summaries can be delivered in Mandarin, English, Indonesian, Filipino, or Vietnamese — to accommodate foreign professional carers who may receive the handoff.
At least 48 hours is ideal, so we have time to review your care notes and prepare properly. For urgent situations, contact us directly and we'll do our best.
We stay. Overtime is billed at NT$300 per additional 30 minutes, agreed in advance. We never leave mid-appointment.
No. Laguna Companion Service is a private, out-of-pocket service. It is not a medical or nursing service and is not covered by National Health Insurance.
Via LINE or email, usually within 3 hours after the session ends. For complex hospital visits, we aim to deliver within the same evening. The summary is formatted for easy forwarding to a doctor, nurse, or foreign care worker.

Ready to get started?

Message us on LINE — we'll respond within a few hours.

Message on LINE →

Get in Touch

Start with a message

LINE is the easiest way to reach us. Tell us the date, where you're going, and who needs accompanying — we'll respond within a few hours.

Contact via LINE

Message us on LINE with your preferred date, destination, and any care notes. We'll confirm availability and details from there.

Scan to add Laguna on LINE (@405ddojj)
@405ddojj
Open in LINE →

Prefer email?

ailun@me.com

We reply within 24 hours.
Complex care situations welcome — we'll discuss by phone if needed.

Technical Layer · Research Prototype

The platform behind
the service.

Laguna is a fully custom-built system — no SaaS, no off-the-shelf CRM. Every component was designed from direct observation of what gets lost when carers can't communicate across language and distance.

Service Status
Live
Companion service accepting bookings
PWA / Patient Tool
Beta
laguna.ailunhuang.com
CRM Backend
v0
Internal use only — case management
ESP32 Sensor Layer
Prototype
GPS event logging during sessions

System Components

Three layers, one service

Each component was built to solve a real handoff problem — not a hypothetical one.

Core Artifact

Laguna Patient & Carer PWA

A progressive web app that helps patients and family carers prepare for consultations, stay oriented during them, and transfer a structured care record to whoever comes next — including foreign professional carers.

  • Pre-consultation question builder
  • In-session notes (hands-free mode)
  • Post-visit care instructions in plain language
  • Secure handoff to next carer
  • 5 languages: Mandarin, English, Indonesian, Filipino, Vietnamese
  • Works offline — no mobile data required
Live beta laguna.ailunhuang.com

Operations Layer

Laguna CRM Console

Internal case management for the companion service. Handles the full case lifecycle without leaving the screen — inquiry to sign-off to PDF delivery.

  • Master–detail case view (no page jumps)
  • Status pipeline: Inquiry → Confirmed → In Session → Delivered
  • Auto-generated PDF summary templates
  • Client record continuity across sessions
v0 prototype PHP / MySQL Internal only

Sensor Layer

ESP32 GPS Event Logger

A lightweight IoT device that logs timestamped GPS waypoints during sessions. Designed to give family members verifiable location records — a transparency layer for situations where trust matters most.

  • ESP32-based hardware, custom firmware
  • Time-stamped GPS events (arrival, departure, wait)
  • Data stored locally — no cloud dependency
  • Optional consent-gated family share
Hardware prototype ESP32 C++ firmware

Architecture

How the pieces connect

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ LAGUNA COMPANION SERVICE │ ├──────────────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────────────┤ │ Patient / Carer │ Companion │ Family / Next Carer │ │ PWA (laguna.*) │ (field) │ (summary recipient) │ ├──────────────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤ │ • Pre-visit │ • ESP32 GPS │ • Receives PDF via │ │ questions │ logging │ LINE / email │ │ • In-session │ • In-app notes │ • 5-language summary │ │ notes │ • Post-visit │ • Medication list │ │ • Offline-first │ summary │ • Doctor's instructions │ │ • 5 languages │ draft │ • Next appointment info │ └──────────────────┴──────────────────┴───────────────────────────┘ ↓ stored in ↓ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ CRM Console (internal, operator only) │ │ MySQL DB · PHP 8 backend · Case lifecycle · PDF generation │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Technical Stack

Built from scratch

Every component was hand-built. No SaaS subscriptions, no template CRMs. This is a research artifact as much as a service tool.

Backend & Data

  • PHP 8.x — application server
  • MySQL — relational case & session database
  • Local data storage — no third-party cloud dependency
  • REST API for PWA ↔ CRM sync

Frontend & Device

  • Progressive Web App — offline-capable, installable
  • Service Worker — offline session note storage
  • ESP32 microcontroller — custom GPS firmware (C++)
  • LINE Messaging API — family notification layer

Research Context

The tool is the research site.

The live deployment of Laguna is itself a site of observation. Real-world use by patients, family carers, and foreign professional carers generates data on how people actually engage with care tools — and why they stop. This is the empirical base for the next research question: how an adaptive, human-centred AI might sustain engagement across months and years, without adding to anyone's burden or eroding their dignity.

Read the research case study →