ShareTheCaregiving Inc.™
Helps Kick Off National Family Caregivers Month

National Family Caregivers Month, celebrated every November, is a nationally recognized time set aside every year to thank, support, educate and empower more than 50 million family caregivers across the country currently providing over $350 billion in “free” caregiving services. Celebrating NFC Month in your community can bring attention to your programs and raise awareness about caregiving.

This FREE two-part series features 2 one-hour phone calls:
•    Date: November 6 and 13 at 2 p.m. ET
•    Title: Communicating Effectively with Healthcare Professionals
•    To register visit: www.thefamilycaregiver.org or call 800-896-3650
ShareTheCaregiving Inc. is pleased to be an endorsing organization of NFC Month, created by the National Family Caregivers Association to bring attention to the needs of family caregivers. “This year we are encouraging people to speak up during National Family Caregivers Month.” said Suzanne Mintz, NFCA president and co-founder. “One of the most important attributes of being an advocate for your loved one is the ability to speak up to health care professionals protecting not only the health and safety of your loved ones but for yourself as well.”

1.    Offer a few hours of respite time to a family caregiver so they spend time with friends, or simply relax.
2.    Send a card of appreciation or a bouquet of flowers to brighten up a family caregiver’s day.
3.    Encourage local businesses to offer a free service for family caregivers through the month of November.
4.    Invite family caregivers to participate in the National Family Caregivers Association’s FREE national TeleClass to learn how to communicate more effectively with health care professionals.  The 2 free one hour sessions will be November 6 and 13 at 2 p.m. ET.  For more information visit www.thefamilycaregiver.org.
5.    Help a family caregiver decorate their home for the holidays or offer to address envelopes for their holiday cards.
6.    Offer comic relief!  Purchase tickets to a local comedy club, give a family caregiver your favorite funny movie to view, or provide them with a book on tape.
7.    Find 12 different family photos and have a copy center create a monthly calendar that the family caregiver can use to keep track of appointments and events.
8.    Offer to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for a caregiving family in your community, so they can just relax and enjoy the holiday.
9.    Take a few minutes to write a letter encouraging your mayor, county executive, or governor to issue a local proclamation establishing November as National Family Caregivers Month. Contact information for state government officials can be found at www.firstgov.gov.
10.    Help family caregivers find information and resources on the internet or to locate a local support group.

Share The Care has been awarded a 2008 Caregiver Friendly award in the Book category.

Dear Sheila,

It is my great honor to announce that Share The Care has been awarded a 2008 Caregiver Friendly award in the Book category.

This award signifies that you and your organization understand the value of supporting family caregivers and have created something that not only helps a caregiver care for their loved ones but also improves his or her quality of life in the process.

Gary Barg
Founder / Editor-in-Chief
Today’s Caregiver

About The Caregiver Friendly Awards:
The Caregiver Friendly Awards are presented by Today’s Caregiver magazine to celebrate outstanding books, media, products and services which have been designed with the best interest of the caregiver and his or her loved one in mind. Today’s Caregiver magazine and caregiver.com, launched in 1995, are published by Caregiver Media Group, which also produces the Fearless Caregiver Conferences.
“The average caregiver is responsible for over $40,000 in health related expenditures each year, in either personal or directed funds” Says Gary Barg, Today’s Caregiver magazine’s Founder and Editor-in-Chief, “This award is designed to help family caregivers recognize and reward those organizations who will care for them in as committed a manner as they care for their loved ones.”

Awards will be presented at Today’s Caregiver magazine’s Fearless Caregiver Conference to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. May 15, 2008.

Looking for Share The Care groups caring for (or who have cared for) someone with ALS.

A new group would like to communicate with you AND with all Share The Care groups located in New York City.

Please send us an e-mail at: info@sharethecare.org

… or better yet fill out our questionnaire: Click here>> ABOUT YOUR GROUP.

Comments Off

No one understands better than you, the importance of our mission to stop “caregiver burnout” and help thousands of other individuals and families find the SHARE THE CARE model. SHARE THE CARE has been, and continues to be, a successful caregiving solution for a wide range of conditions and situations.

ShareTheCaregiving has reached a major turning point its development and if ever there was a time when our organization needed your help it is right now! Our goal is to raise $25,000 to cover some of our costs for the first half of 2008.

Since receiving our 501c3 in 2004, we’ve been working steadily to spread the word and educate individuals, health professionals and clergy about the model so they in turn can introduce it to families who need the help. We’re making tremendous headway yet our organization needs your support to pay for printing educational materials, purchasing books for distribution, and just paying the rent. We’re also in dire need of a new Mac laptop so work can continue while on the road. Ours is so old it can’t even be upgraded with current technology.

People often tell us “SHARE THE CARE is such important work.” So, we ask you to please keep it going by making a generous donation.

“I think the book was the best piece of information we received in all our searching. It is the greatest and I recommend it to everyone who asks about our situation. I wish all hospitals could hand it out when they give you a diagnosis (for ALS). I wish you could get a grant to have it placed in every hospital waiting room and doctor’s office. Everyone knows someone that could benefit from reading it.”

Kathryn Field

Whether you send us an individual donation, or pool your funds with your fellow group members–it will make a major difference. A donation can be made “in memory” or, “in honor” of someone special–just please include his or her name. And to personally acknowledge your tax-deductible gift, we’ll need your name & address.

For checks:
ShareTheCaregiving, Inc.
551 Fifth Avenue, 28th Floor
New York, NY 10176

or via the Web site: click here to: Make a Donation
through the Network for Good.

We thank you for your meaningful support and wish you all a wonderful Holiday Season.

Sheila Warnock
Founder & President

National Family Caregivers Association

National Family Caregivers Month, celebrated every November, is a nationally recognized time set aside every year to thank, support, educate and celebrate more than 50 million family caregivers across the country currently providing an estimated $306 billion in “free” caregiving services. Celebrating NFC Month in your community can bring attention to your programs and raise awareness about ShareTheCaregiving™.

In celebration of National Family Caregivers Month 2007, family caregivers are encouraged to take action to improve their own health and well being by speaking up for their rights. Help support family caregivers to take steps every day to make their lives easier, improve the care they give their loved one and convince others to speak up about the assistance family caregivers need and deserve.

ShareTheCaregiving, Inc. is pleased to be an endorsing organization of NFC Month and a part of this campaign to bring attention to the needs of family caregivers. The National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) leads the NFC Month effort and creates a special Family Caregiver Kit with educational and promotional materials to help you celebrate. Here’s what you can do to get involved:

• Remind family caregivers to believe in themselves, protect their health, reach out for help, and speak up for their rights.

• Encourage family caregivers to identify themselves as a family caregiver in conversations with others, including friends and family as well as healthcare professionals.

• Plan your own local NFC Month Celebration. Contact the National Family Caregivers Association at www.thefamilycaregiver.org or call 800/896-3650 to learn more about how you can obtain family caregiver kits and ideas for celebrating National Family Caregivers Month.

Please download the the National Family Caregivers Association’s informational PDF; learn more about National Family Caregivers Month, and how to order promotional materials. Click here >> NFCA - Informational - PDF << (If the PDF shows up in your browser window and you wish to download it to your desktop: Right click and select ‘Save As’ - Mac=Control click and ‘Save As’)

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10400 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 500 • Kensington, Maryland 20895 •301.942.6430 • www.thefamilycaregiver.org

Visit SHARE YOUR ADVICE

ShareTheCaregiving has been compiling (disease/condition specific) caregiving advice from Share The Care groups and patients to pass along to help other groups supporting someone with the same or similar challenges.

Our first installment focuses on ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) from the perspective of a family caregiver who has extensive support from a large Share The Care group known as “Peg”s Legs” and the patient, Peggy Chun, a well-known artist in Hawaii. Peg’s Legs has been in action since 2002 and we believe you’ll find their advice and what they’ve accomplished not only exemplary but extremely moving as well.*

We welcome your feedback. Please pass this information along to others who might benefit.

Currently we are seeking ADVICE from groups caring for an Alzheimer’s patient as well as groups supporting parents with children who are ill. (Click here for information on how to submit your GROUP ADVICE for consideration.)

*Please note that the ideas and information in SHARE YOUR ADVICE are for informational purposes only. Nothing in this site is intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the direction, instructions and advice from your own physician or other professional healthcare provider before implementing ideas and information you find on this site, to insure the comfort, safety and well-being of your care recipient. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeing it because of something you have read on this website.

Here’s a wonderful way to provide information/assistance to caregivers in your community and help them get their Share The Care group going - A Share The Care Station.

Mindy Gribble, a parish nurse, former Share The Care group member and creator of the first Share The Care Station has contributed an article so others might follow suit.

It is catching on…see the press release (that follows her article) announcing a Share The Care Station in a local library created by the joint efforts of Northern Vermont Regional Hospital and the Area Agency on Aging in Northeastern Vermont.

A “Share the Care Station”
Providing Team Start-up Support in Central Wisconsin
By Mindy Gribble

What is a “Share the Care Station” and how might it benefit family caregivers in your community?

Since 2002, The Circle of Life Community Coalition in central Wisconsin has been working with caregivers and listening to their needs. In response, they have recently developed a free and well utilized “Share the Care Station”.

The organization’s mission is, “To create a nurturing environment in which to support individuals, families and caregivers facing life altering and life limiting situations through education, resources and referral.” Share the Care has been, from the start, a perfect match. Having had enormous success with their first pilot teams, the group found themselves asking, “Why are some community members getting stuck in the ‘thinking about starting’ stage?” In 2006, the “Station” concept emerged as a successful solution.

The primary purpose of the Share the Care Station is to maximize the use of Share the Care by minimizing the amount of caregiver energy and stress during the team start-up process. Circle of Life promotes the station as a life enhancing “first stop” for the caregiver journey.

As a Marshfield Area United Way Partner Program, the Circle of Life Coalition has received funding to stock office lending library bookshelves with necessary supplies: copies of Share the Care, copies of the Share the Care video and DVD, and the Peg’s Legs DVD. In addition, “start up folders” containing all of the Share the Care forms, blank name tags and ideas from other area Share the Care teams are available, all free of charge.

The Coalition Coordinator, a former team captain, also provides start-up coaching and ongoing support as part of the Share the Care Station resources. She has also provided many community and medical staff educational presentations on the model. To date, seven departments at the area medical complex have more concise versions of the Share the Care Station available for staff members making referrals.

The Circle of Life Community Coalition hopes to honor the joy of being part of a caregiving family by “building bridges” to help others move from contemplating Share the Care to actively experiencing its blessings.

For more information on how to develop a Share the Care Station in your area, don’t hesitate to call the Circle of Life Community Coalition at 715-305-5675 or email them at circleoflifecc@gmail.com .

(Edited) Press Release
For Release Week of November 14, 2005
Contact: Area Agency on Aging for Northeastern Vermont

Share the Care Station Opens at NVRH Library

Northern Vermont Regional Hospital, in collaboration with the Area Agency on Aging for Northeastern Vermont is opening a Share the Care Station in their library November 21st as part of the Caring Every Day Campaign for family caregivers. At this station one will find resources to assist interested persons to organize a group of family, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances into a powerful “caregiver family” to share the practical and emotional responsibilities of caring for someone who is seriously ill. From coping with hospitals and doctors to performing ongoing household chores or helping with children in the family, the Share the Care approach ensures that the person who is ill has the support he or she needs and that no caregiver has to shoulder this difficult task alone. Leadership of each Share the Care group rotates so that no one caregiver gets burned out and puts her own health at risk.

At our new Share the Care Station in the Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital Library we hope to be of help to people who would like to organize a Share the Care group to care for a frail or seriously ill individual. At the library one can find a copy of the book Share the Care, copies of forms needed to get a group started, information and articles and a video about other successful Share the Care groups around the country and contacts for individuals in the Northeast Kingdom who are willing to mentor or assist you as you get a group started.

December 2006

Dear Share The Care group member,

As the holidays approach, I’d like to take a minute to acknowledge everyone who’s ever been a Share The Care group member. As a member you’ve done hundreds of jobs: errands, meals, driving and accompanying your friend to doctors appointments and treatments. You‘ve kept businesses going, build wheelchair ramps, held fundraisers and moved a family from one home to another. You were there through all the stages of their illness making many of their wishes
come true. You’ve made a REAL difference in someone’s life.

Now we have an urgent need to ask you to do one more thing: make a contribution to Share The Care and help make a difference in the lives of hundreds of other people!

While you were busy we’ve also been working hard establishing sharethecaregiving, Inc. (a 501c3 organization) Our mission is to bring Share The Care to an even wider audience and teach people how they, like you, can make a profound difference by turning offers of “What can I do to help” into action. And in the past 12 months we’ve made some remarkable progress:

In June, we opened our headquarters in New York City establishing a professional presence in the non-profit healthcare community. This was made possible by a grant from the Bodman Foundation as well as your individual donations.

Our Web site has been steadily growing. We’ve been averaging 80,000 page hits a month
(up from 65,000 in 2005) and surging as high as 175,600 page hits in January 2006.

We’ve conducted trainings, presentations and lectures for professionals in Wisconsin, Colorado,
California and New York and are scheduled for others in New Jersey and Illinois for ‘07.

We now have satellite healthcare professionals in four parts of the country to make Share
The Care more accessible. (West Coast, Rocky Mtn. Region, Mid West and the East Coast.)

We’ve partnered with Jakoter Health Organizers and created a ready-made Share The Care Health Organizer and tote for groups to use (see our web site under Medical File).

Sharethecaregiving is now part of a brand new local organization launching in November –
The New York City Family Caregiver Coalition.

THERE’S MORE WORK TO BE DONE.

Our goals for 2007 are ambitious – and depend on support from people like you.
Provide salaries for staff positions.

Continue to expand programs to reach out to individuals, communities and health organizations across the country.

Create a ready-made Share The Care web site for groups via our home web site.

Reach and train more volunteers to help start Share The Care groups.

Make the Share The Care model part of the curriculum for nursing, social work and theological students in universities.

Establish Share The Care Stations in different parts of the country.

People give to organizations that support a specific illness. We need you to help us by supporting our organization because it supports all kinds of illnesses and conditions including helping the elderly.

Please help us keep the mission and dream of Share The Care growing. Your tax-deductible donation will help support the operating costs and costs of educational materials of sharethecaregiving, Inc. You can do this in your friend’s name or memory. You can make donations on our web site (www.sharethecare.org) under the “Make a Donation” button or send a check to:

Sharethecaregiving, Inc.
551 Fifth Avenue – 28th floor
New York, NY 10176

Please be sure to include your name and address so we can acknowledge your gift.

HELP US TO CONTINUE TO TEACH OTHERS HOW TO
SHARE THE CARE.
Warmest Regards for a very Happy Holiday,

Sheila Warnock

(President & Founder) and
The Board of sharethecaregiving, Inc.

PS: We invite you to send us your inspiring group stories and pictures for the web site.