Backed by a $150,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, Philadelphia-based startup  OneClick.chat will join a study to evaluate the impact that video chat can have on social isolation among older adults.

Two thirds of the grant will go to the Philly company so it can continue working on its platform, writes Roberto Torres at technical.ly.

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OneClick.chat has four full-timers distributed between Philadelphia, West Virginia and Maryland, with cofounder and CEO Dillon Myers based out of 1776’s Curtis Center location.

“The original idea was to connect people to have dinner together,” said Myers. “Since then, we’ve seen a bigger opportunity in that most video platforms are hard to use. We wanted to make a platform where communities and groups could meet.”

According to stats from Connect2Affect, a foundation started by the American Associaion of Retired Persons (AARP), more than 8 million people aged 50 and older are affected by social isolation in the U.S., driven by factors as wide ranging as poor health, transportation challenges and lack of access and racial inequality.

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