About EldercareABC

About EldercareABC Blog

EldercareABC began as an idea based on empathy and community.  My wife Sandy and I had cared for both of our parents and now they were all gone. What was not gone was the memory of how challenging the experience had been. We had raised two children and thought we knew what care giving was about.

We had the good fortune to have a supportive extended family. We knew we were lucky and that many people rise to the challenge of an aging parent alone. Our hearts go out to these people and EldercareABCBlog.com is our practical response to that emotion.

If it requires a village to raise a child, then what does it take to care for an aging parent?

There are so many variables in care giving circumstances that you could safely say that there are no two alike! This is why having the support of an extended social network can be so powerful. Tapping into the collective wisdom of a group of people who have or are facing similar challenges is the purpose of this blog. The group acts as an ‘extended mind’ made up of many people with many years of life experience.

Think about it for a moment – take a relatively small on-line community of 250 people and assume that their average age is 45 – that makes an extended mind with over 11,000 years life experience. It raises the question; what can we do together that we can’t do alone?

This is your parent…..

A good portion of our professional careers had been involved in ‘helping professions’, social work and counseling. We thought we knew how to care for others. When it came to caring for our parents we realized this was no ordinary caring relationship.

One of the most challenging questions is how do you look after someone who used to look after you? How do you start giving your parents advice and direction?  How do you make that transition from ‘child’ to ‘adult caregiver’?

United we Stand….

Abraham Maslow described becoming part of something larger than ourselves as one of the most powerful things we can do for ourselves. He goes on to state that connecting ourselves to something larger… ‘… is an easy medicine for self-esteem: Become a part of some- thing important. Be able to say, “We of the United Nations. . . .”

Or for that matter ‘we caregivers’. By doing so we participate in the glory, the pleasure, and the pride of all caregivers everywhere. Simply put we are stronger together than we are separated. Supportive communities can be so valuable to caregivers because they help bring meaning to what they day-to-day.

Scientific research shows that isolation is harmful to our health. People with a network of supportive relationships have much lower incidences of heart disease, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.  It has further shown that these networks do not have to be face-to-face in nature. Caregivers involved in on-line communities have stronger immune systems and better health than those experiencing social isolation.

A community for caregivers, designed and informed by caregivers.

Many of our own friends confided in us that they didn’t know where to turn. We began to imagine what sort of service would be the most helpful. As we reflected on our own experiences we realized that there were two important factors in dealing with our challenges. The first was the support of people who had firsthand experience, and the second was good quality advice and information about the more technical issues.

By finding out what it is caregivers wanted to know more about – we have designed a website (www.EldercareABC.com) and blog featuring:

• Insightful and informative blog posts
• Library of articles and resources
• Teleclasses around the most pressing issues
• Interviews with experts / authors
• Special community events
• Group ‘chat sessions’
• Product reviews

Getting connected

The ‘ABC’ in EldercareABC stands for ‘About Being Connected’. So come in, get connected and have your say about what information you need. Most importantly discover a group of people that are here to support you and who you can support in your own way.

If you are caring for an aging parent we have two things to say to you – bravo for having the courage to step-up to the plate and…….join our EldercareABC community!