You may have noticed a proliferation of all kinds of
websites for caregivers. According to
Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology, the surge is partly a response to need--and partly a response to commercial opportunity.
“All of a sudden, it’s like caregivers have money,” said Gail Hunt of the National Alliance for Caregiving. “The baby boomers have to care for their parents, and there’s money to be made.”
Some of the sites, in other words, are all about the advertising.
But folks who run “altruistic” sites with no profit motive can learn some lessons from the often young entrepreneurs who understand social networking. Chief among these: the term “caregiver” doesn’t resonate with Boomers. We don’t see ourselves as caregivers but as family members—or even “baby sitters.” Caregiving is a market with more than one niche.
Realizing that, some sites are including services for the other side of the Boomer sandwich: childcare and tutoring, for example.
One site is called Lotsa Helping Hands. Developed in cooperation with the National Alliance for Caregiving, it has “created 6,000 ‘communities’ for users, mostly networks focused on a specific patient’s circle of caregivers,” according to article author Christopher Calnan.
Sites that list providers often offer a free basic service and charge monthly rates for “premium” services as well as using advertising.
Hunt warns that most of these businesses will disappear like the dot.coms – unless they develop the “Holy Grail:” comprehensive information combined with a database of local resources for users.
In Milwaukee, the Family Caregiver Support Network offers diverse help and information and a social support network for caregivers--for free.
Other excellent noncommercial sites include the Family Caregiver Alliance, and Hunt's organization's website Caregiving.org.
Strength for Caring is a great site owned by a commercial enterprise, Johnson & Johnson.
We’d love to hear about the best websites for caregivers—and what’s needed but not there. Comments and guest blog entries are most welcome!
