Hospitals are massive, high-stakes ecosystems—but most still operate without real-time visibility or coordination. Melinda Yormick, RN and founder of CLARA, is bringing military-grade precision to the frontlines with an AI-powered navigation system that's rewriting the rules of hospital response and patient safety.
TAMPA BAY, Fla., April 22, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- With 80% of serious medical errors linked to communication failures during patient handoffs, hospitals continue to operate in a dangerously outdated system—one that lacks accountability, visibility, and coordination. (1) On this week's episode of Disruption Interruption, host Karla Jo Helms (KJ) interviews Melinda Yormick, RN and CEO of CLARA, who reveals how her experience as a frontline nurse led to a tech breakthrough: a real-time indoor navigation system designed to make hospitals smarter, safer, and more efficient—down to the last second. "With CLARA, we're not just routing people—we're making sure the right person with the right skill set gets to the right place at the right time," Yormick explains. "That's what saves lives."
Broadcast Chaos – Why Emergency Response in Hospitals Is Failing
In critical emergencies, time isn't just money—it's survival. Yet in most hospitals, frontline teams are still relying on outdated broadcast systems that blur responsibility, dilute accountability, and delay care. "The status quo is really the word for it," says Yormick. "It's the thing that's sitting there, and we move through it day to day, over and over again—and we don't normally notice it." It wasn't until a tragic, preventable death in her unit that Melinda realized how deeply broken the system truly is.
In most hospitals, when a patient needs urgent help, the alert goes out as a one-size-fits-all broadcast—triggered by wall buttons, overhead pages, or frantic calls for assistance. There's no guarantee on who receives it, who's coming, or whether they have the right tools or training. "You might get 30 people from different departments, all abandoning tasks to respond to the same call, or worse—none at all," says Yormick. "There's no closed-loop communication, no confirmation, no accountability. It's chaos." This creates a dangerous paradox: highly trained clinicians operating in a system that lacks even basic coordination.
Melinda compares it to a military without a chain of command. "We're serving critical emergencies, but we have no military-grade response. That was the moment I had to ask—why doesn't a solution exist?"
CLARA: The Precision Mapping Platform Bringing Order to Hospital Chaos
In a hospital, seconds can mean the difference between full recovery and permanent damage. Yet most facilities still rely on outdated systems for emergency response—leaving critical moments to chance. That reality drove Melinda Yormick, RN, to found CLARA, a healthcare navigation platform that brings military-grade precision to hospital coordination. "Imagine a digital transformation that turns our infrastructure into a glowing grid," Yormick says. "You can see every room, every hallway, every person, and every tool—moving in real-time."
CLARA functions like a combination of Waze™ and Air Traffic Control, delivering turn-by-turn indoor navigation and real-time location tracking for patients, staff, and equipment. More than just a GPS for hospitals, CLARA orchestrates critical care events with precision—dispatching the right specialists, in the right proximity, with the right tools in hand. "We're talking about orchestrating movement inside buildings that span over a million square feet," Yormick explains. "You can't afford to send responders from across campus. Seconds matter."
As hospitals face a growing need to modernize, CLARA offers a future-ready solution—one that meets healthcare's highest standard: first, do no harm. "This isn't about finding the cheapest or simplest tech," says Yormick. "It's about making sure patients don't leave with a brain injury, or never speak to their family again."
Links
Disrupting Hospital Chaos: How One Nurse Is Bringing Military-Grade Precision to Patient Care
https://omny.fm/shows/disruption-interruption/disrupting-hospital-chaos-how-one-nurse-is-bringing-military-grade-precision-to-patient-care
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinda-yormick/
Company Website: https://www.claraguide.com
Disruption Interruption is the podcast where you will hear from today's biggest Industry Disruptors. Learn what motivated them to bring about innovation and how they overcame opposition to adoption.
Disruption Interruption can be listened to in Apple's App Store and Spotify.
About Disruption InterruptionTM
Disruption is happening on an unprecedented scale, impacting all manner of industries— MedTech, Finance, IT, eCommerce, shipping, logistics, and more—and COVID has moved their timelines up a full decade or more. But WHO are these disruptors and when did they say, "THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT!"? Time to Disrupt and Interrupt with host Karla Jo "KJ" Helms, veteran communications disruptor. KJ interviews badasses who are disrupting their industries and altering economic networks that have become antiquated with an establishment resistant to progress. She delves into uncovering secrets from industry rebels and quiet revolutionaries that uncover common traits—and not-so-common—that are changing our economic markets… and lives. Visit the world's key pioneers that persist to success, despite arrows in their backs at http://www.disruption-interruption.com.
About Melinda Yormick
Melinda Yormick is a purpose-driven healthcare innovator and the Founder and CEO of CLARA, a technology platform transforming the way hospitals respond to patients during critical moments. With over a decade of experience as a perioperative nurse and clinical leader in the greater Seattle area, Melinda combines frontline knowledge with strategic leadership to address one of healthcare's most overlooked risks: failure to respond due to disjointed navigation and coordination.
Her mission was sparked by a tragic patient death in 2021—not from a clinical error, but from multiple care delays caused by wayfinding breakdowns inside the hospital. After discovering the systemic nature of the issue and the lack of viable solutions, Melinda launched CLARA in 2022. The platform acts like Waze plus Air Traffic Control for hospitals—streamlining communication, orchestrating teams, and helping clinical staff locate critical equipment and patients faster to prevent harm.
A Registered Nurse and Executive MBA graduate of the University of Washington Foster School of Business (2024), Melinda is leading the charge to make hospitals safer, smarter, and more responsive. She invites the healthcare industry to join her in building a future where no patient is lost to inefficiency.
About Karla Jo Helms
Karla Jo Helms is the Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR® Strategist for JOTO PR Disruptors™. Karla Jo learned firsthand how unforgiving business can be when millions of dollars are on the line — and how the control of public opinion often determines whether one company is happily chosen, or another is brutally rejected. Being an alumnus of crisis management, Karla Jo has worked with litigation attorneys, private investigators, and the media to help restore companies of goodwill into the good graces of public opinion — Karla Jo operates on the ethic of getting it right the first time, not relying on second chances and doing what it takes to excel. Helms speaks globally on public relations, how the PR industry itself has lost its way, and how, in the right hands, corporations can harness the power of Anti-PR to drive markets and impact market perception.
References
1. Alder, Steve. "Effects of Poor Communication in Healthcare." The HIPAA Journal, 2 Jan. 2025, hipaajournal.com/effects-of-poor-communication-in-healthcare/.
Media Inquiries:
Karla Jo Helms
JOTO PR™
727-777-4629
Media Contact
Karla Jo Helms, JOTO PR™, 727-777-4629, [email protected], jotopr.com
SOURCE Disruption Interruption
Share this article