7,000 against 55 million

The stat that lands hardest in this hour: roughly 7,000 geriatricians in the United States. Against 55 million Americans over 65. For comparison: more than 60,000 pediatricians.

Robert Butler called the field he founded "the medicine of the longevity revolution," and the medical system has under-resourced it for half a century. The shortage isn't going to close on its own. Geriatric medicine is hard, low-status, low-paid, and there aren't enough new doctors choosing it.

This is the gap Tugboat lives in. We can't manufacture more geriatricians. We can extend the few who exist — and the institutional knowledge they carry — to every family caregiver who needs them.