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SYRACUSE - An aging population and imminent closures of New York State hospitals motivated five Syracuse University (SU) student entrepreneurs to form Lighthouse, a start-up nonprofit that caters to the family members of hospital patients.
The graduating seniors' business plan for Lighthouse beat out 40 other teams to win the top prize in the Capstone Business Plan Competition at SU's Martin J. Whitman School of Management on April 28. The team won $500.
Christine Fatcheric, Gregory Morel, Lindsay Adler, Ilsia Almonte, and Inessa Levochkina formed the prize-winning nonprofit to develop a facility that provides affordable accommodations and transportation for the family members of elderly hospital patients. Lighthouse's facility would be located in close proximity to the major Syracuse hospitals and start out with five rooms. As demand and funding increase, Lighthouse could then expand its number of rooms, Fatcheric says.
As more hospitals close down due to bed-downsizing efforts by the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, more people will have to travel to cities such as Syracuse that have quality healthcare facilities, explains Fatcheric, a management major and Weedsport native.
"There is a need there, and people are going to respond," says Fatcheric.
Students developed the business...