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Tools for Family Caregivers Improve Communication and Reduce Costs

Assisted Living Centers Benefit from Next Generation Tools

Nearly a million American's live in Assisted Living Centers. The majority of who are frail elderly or profoundly disabled individuals. Placing a disabled or chronically ill family member into an Assisted Living Center doesn't end family caregiving responsibilities.

The past 20 years have seen many changes in the variety of long term care services offered to consumers which make it important for providers to present residents and their families with information that is as complete, concise, and candid about their communities and the services provided as possible.

With family members spread over the US or around the world, Assisted Living Centers are constantly challenged to communicate effectively and efficiently with family members.

Not only do you need to keep families up to speed on any changes to the service plan you also need a cost effective method of informing them of scheduled activities, highlights, and general well being of their family member. Coordinating phone calls and resident information can be a costly and time consuming process.

Assisted Living Centers are now in a unique position to provide family members caregivers a comprehensive set of tools to assist their beneficiaries through all stages of the process at no cost via a branded portal developed by Care Giver Helper. The benefit is improved outcomes for caregivers and reduced costs for the Assisted Living Center.

Care Giver Helper allows the creation of private and secure family communities that allow them to put all their support information in one place: contact numbers of doctors and caregivers, medications and dosages, a common calendar with appointment reminders, and events such as birthdays or anniversaries.

There is also a place to store medical, legal, insurance and other pertinent documents as well as information on care recipient preferences such as favorite foods, music and hobbies.

More importantly, Care Giver Helper streamlines the organization and communication between family caregivers facilitating daily activities, emergencies and long term planning which reduce the stress and isolation so often associated with care giving responsibilities.

At the Assisted Living Center's Branded portal families can receive information about their loved one, doctor's appointments, and changes in condition, center activities and more. You could even set-up daily templates that provide snapshots of their loved one and other family announcements. (See below)

28 Resource communities provide information on specific health related topics such as diabetes, Alzheimer's, heart disease and cancer and as well as providing answers to difficult questions like "How do I discuss a Do Not Resuscitate Order (DNR) with mom?"

Finding resources, seeking expert help, communicating and sharing encouragement with peers are all benefits of these focused communities. One of CareGiverHelper's unique features is the ability to access all these resources in one location.

Care Giver Helper now builds and manages privately branded social networking portals for non-profit and for-profit affinity organizations. In partnership with Care Giver Helper, companies and organizations can offer their members access to care giving resources and tools for coordinating vital information with family members and caregivers.

Through your own branded portal you can provide information to family members involved in caregiving you also have the ability to "push" beneficial messages about your own services and key dates that will improve healthy outcomes.

CareGiverHelper is offered through affinity partner organizations FREE to families.

Sample Assisted Living Community Email to Family Using CareGiverHelper

co-authored by: Robert M. Zakon

CareGiverHelper, Inc.

CareGiverHelper is an internet healthcare marketing and communications company that assists organizations build brand awareness, client loyalty and new client acquisition, through an online community for family caregivers. This web based service improves task organization and communication between family caregivers in order to assist in facilitating daily activities, emergency response and longer term planning processes. It also includes discussion and support groups that are facilitated by resource communities that each focus on a specific health related topic. The service is free of charge for non-paid caregivers and their families.