Lotsa Helping Hands

Today at the YMCA I talked to a man who is caring for his wife who has cancer. It’s been a long haul and we talked about how a hospital can take over your life and how hard it is to “Take care of yourself”, as everyone tells a caregiver.

The hardest thing, he told me, was all the phone calls every night. Everyone wants to know how she’s doing and what the doctor said and what happened today. This man doesn’t email and the phone calls are almost the same one after the (at least ten a night) other. If you have been there you know this is true.

But here is a resource for caregivers and families coping with caregiving and trying to keep everyone connected and up to date. Take a look at the website: Lotsa Helping Hands.com It is a free web-based service that allows you to coordinate care, organize family members and helpers, best of all you can post updates and messages for everyone who wants to know how the patient is doing and what the doctor said today.

You post your update and it is emailed right away to anyone who signs on. Free for the family and free for friends. There is a calendar function to schedule chores, meals, rides etc. And tons of caregiver info as well, including, yes, “Take care of yourself!”