I love lists!
Favorite Movie Lists, Lists of Resources, Best Book Lists, End-of-Year
lists – even To-Do Lists!
In a previous post, we beefed up tools for the
caregiver’s tool belt and included a list of support resources for the caregiver, including
many that are disease/disorder specific.
This time, in honor of my love of lists, I’ve narrowed down the
list to six caregiver resources I absolutely love and find extraordinarily
helpful. No one has paid me to include them in this list but I feel as if I owe
them all a debt of gratitude for the help they give me and other caregivers. I
hope you find them as helpful and supportive as I have.
1.
Caregiving.com. Founded in 1996,
Denise M. Brown has created a supportive online environment for caregivers
rich with resources for people caring for others.
Whether the caregiver cares for their spouse,
parents, children, sibling, grandparent or friend (or a combination of
these – yes, many people have more than one caregiving responsibility),
there is something for everyone.
Denise regularly interviews a “happiness”
expert,
financial planner, a Dementia Care expert as
well as many caregivers covering a wide range of topics.
My own interviews with Denise air the second
Saturday of each month at 7:00 a.m. (Pacific) and focus on the working
caregiver (although when Robert was hospitalized, we talked
from the hospital
about how to prepare for the inevitable trip to the emergency room).
Caregivers regularly blog about
their experiences and routinely rally to help each other when called upon. It’s
a privilege to be involved in this site and to help Denise reach family
caregivers as her insight has helped move many of us through a difficult
situation or two. Denise can be followed on
Twitter at @Caregiving and also on
Facebook.
2.
Caregiver’s Survival Network.
This site is currently under construction but it has resources and stories
accessible to tide you over until it is fully rolled out.
The mission of the Caregiver’s Survival
Network is “designed to be a free social network, dedicated solely to the
welfare of caregivers.”
Adrienne
Gruberg founded The Caregiver’s Survival Network in November 2011 after
she cared for her husband for six years until his death in 2011.
She tells
her story much better than I
could so please read how this dynamic woman went from helping her husband
as his primary caregiver to helping others in a similar situation.
This organization can also be followed on
Twitter at @caregiverSN and on
Facebook.
3.
Family Caregiver Alliance. This site is after my own heart with its lists and fact sheets as well as
a new feature which answers questions about resources in each state (cleverly
designed with a convenient map and list of topics to click on for answers).
This site has so much information you’ll be able to find something new
with each visit. They can be followed on
Twitter at @CaregiverAlly and
Facebook.
4.
Caregiving Café.
This site made it into my favorites not only because they share my passion
for advocacy but also, apparently, my love of coffee!
Lynn Greenblatt created this site because of
her caregiving experiences with both her dad and her husband. I am amazed
at the entrepreneurial spirit and desire to help others that embodies
caregivers! Lynn has created a helpful site and is extremely responsive
(she helped me with a list of organizations who might be interested in
taking a battery-powered wheelchair with a bum battery).
Lynn can be followed on
Twitter at @CaregivingCafe
and
Facebook.
5.
Kat’s Café. A terrific source of information for
special needs families and another coffee lover (I’m shocked a chocolate
lover hasn’t made my list yet!).
Katrina Moody has three special needs children and a husband with
health challenges of his own.
She
makes time to help others and I’ve been lucky enough to stumble across her
wonderful website. She can be followed on Twitter at @KatrinaMoody and on
Facebook.
6. EmblemHealth. This may be a surprise addition to my
caregiving resource list.
After
all, many caregivers find themselves in the position of having to fight
insurance companies for coverage. While that is true and remains a huge
source of stress for caregivers, EmblemHealth recognizes the stress
caregivers experience and knows this may lead to health problems. Helping
caregivers is actually in the best interest of the healthcare industry and
EmblemHealth realizes this and started their
Care for the Family Caregiver
initiative ten years ago.
They are soon launching a new microsite
with various caregiving stories and I will post more information about this once
it is officially launched. As much as I’d like to think all insurance companies
are completely evil when I’m butting heads about coverage, my rational side
also knows caregivers and insurance companies need to work together to help
solve the health crisis in the United States.
I believe in the mission of EmblemHealth and appreciate what they are
doing for caregivers. They can be
followed on
Facebook as well.
Have you used any of these resources or do you have a few
favorites of your own?
Please share your
own list in the comment section – because besides my love of making lists I
do love reading lists!
