Caring for Our Parents (and others), and the partnerships that make it easier

I received an email this morning that really drove home the power of alliances — between the internet, brilliant technology, thoughtful people, public television, a corporate sponsor, and a marcomm/PR agency that brought it all together. This alliance promotes an issue that potentially impacts all of us — caring for our parents.

Thanks and kudos to Sandy Lish (co-founder of The Castle Group and fellow alum of UMass Amherst), for helping to get the word out on such an important issue and providing access to some great resources that can help. Check out Sandy’s message:

( Friends and colleagues:

Recently, one of our Castle clients, HouseWorks, (www.house-works.com) sponsored a public television broadcast that many of us here found to be highly informative and moving. “Caring for Your Parents,” which ran locally on WGBH-TV, featured five families all dealing with the challenges of caring for their aging parents.  Following the documentary, WGBH aired a panel discussion which covered many of the issues involved, specifically, caregiving and related financial, interpersonal and health challenges.

As someone who, a few years ago, had to address an aging parent’s changing health and housing needs, I personally found this insightful and helpful to watch.  I know many of my friends and colleagues can relate to this issue, and if you haven’t dealt with it already, may have to eventually.  So I send this as a “public service” to those of you that might need guidance and insight.

The program is on WGBH’s website (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/caringforyourparents/).

If you are in a caregiving role yourself, or are concerned about someone who is, you may also be interested in visiting www.lotsahelpinghands.com (another client), which provides a tool for online caregiver support.

Sandy

Personal note:  Lotshelpinghands ROCKS. Not only do they help caregivers organize their own efforts and help them focus on giving care instead of managing the details, they eliminate huge hurdles and provide an incredibly easy and unobtrusive way for us on the outside to assist without getting in the way. How powerful is that ?! Check ‘em out.