Family Caregivers Find Support and Reduce Caregiver Burnout Through New Partnership
New York, NY and Denver, CO (PRWEB) May 13, 2014 -- Since 1963, the month of May has been designated as Older American’s Month. Senior citizens throughout the United States deserve to be recognized and appreciated.
Few exemplify that appreciation more than the 45 million family members who care for seniors on a daily basis. On average, these stalwart family caregivers provide 20 hours of unpaid caregiving support each week, and their job isn’t getting any easier.
Caring for a senior requires support
“Supporting a parent or aging loved one on a daily basis is excruciatingly difficult,” said Josh Fotheringham, former Apple software designer and current CEO of Caring in Place®. “The complexity involved with caring for an aging loved one is constantly growing.” Caring in Place® is a free smartphone and web solution designed to help reduce this complexity for family members as they care for their aging loved ones.
Fotheringham continued, “Imagine the strength that comes from finding someone that has recently been through a similar experience and can share advice. It’s invaluable! That’s why we are excited to announce our recent partnership with healtheo360®.”
Based in New York City, healtheo360® brings together individuals with similar health conditions or health-related experiences. Through an active online community, patients and caregivers connect and share insights and experiences.
“Finding someone who knows what we are feeling and experiencing is critical,” said David Duplay, Founder and CEO of healtheo360®. “Our company’s mission is to help individuals find support by connecting patients and caregivers who have been or are currently struggling with similar health-related experiences. And, we believe those caring for aging seniors can benefit greatly from our service.”
healtheo360® gives patients, caregivers, family and friends the ability to share their stories via video or text. Members follow each other on their journeys, communicate with each other throughout the site, and participate in various support groups.
Together these two companies plan to combine the physical and logistical knowledge of Caring in Place® with the social and emotional strengths of healtheo360® to provide holistic support for family caregivers.
New Partnership addresses Caregiver Burnout
When caring for an aging senior, family caregivers often put their own health and interests aside to support their loved one. Unfortunately this natural reaction often leads to Caregiver Burnout – a term used widely within the healthcare industry describing the decline of a family caregiver’s health. The focus of the partnership between Caring in Place® and healtheo360® is not only to support family caregivers but also to help them avoid Caregiver Burnout.
Through a well-designed caregiver platform (inclusive of an online portal and an iPhone app), Caring in Place® uses their proprietary Intelligent Checklists™ or to-do lists to help family caregivers know what to do, when to do it, and how to care for their aging loved ones. These solutions also enable family caregivers to share their intelligent to-do lists with other family members, friends, neighbors, and even paid caregivers.
Now caregivers can avoid Caregiver Burnout by engaging and educating others on how to care for their parent or loved one. As an example, caregivers can now use the video camera in the Caring in Place® app to capture video and show others how to populate a pillbox, treat a bed sore, or play a prescribed brain-stimulating game.
healtheo360® estimates that tens of thousands of its current members identify themselves as family caregivers. And, given the commonality of Caregiver Burnout among those members, healtheo360® hopes that the Caring in Place® platform can reduce this burnout by simplifying their caregiving responsibilities.
“We know caregiving is tough,” continued Duplay. “By partnering with Caring in Place®, family caregivers can now benefit from not only our social strength, but also powerful caregiving technologies such as medication adherence reminders, care coordination tools, physician reports, and even alerts and notifications.”
If you have been or are currently a family caregiver, join the healtheo360® community by going to http://www.healtheo360.com or by downloading the free app from the iTunes App store. Access the Caring in Place® platform by visiting http://www.caringinplace.com or by downloading the free iTunes App.
Josh Fotheringham, Caring in Place®, http://www.caringinplace.com, +1 (303) 635-6187, [email protected]
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