How to Use Caring Village and CaringBridge Together

There are many tools out there designed to make life easier for caregivers in one way or another. Two of these are Caring Village and CaringBridge. While Caring Village and CaringBridge may sound similar in some ways, they are actually very different. However, what many do not know is that both apps can be used effectively together. The free Caring Village app can be used for coordinating caregiving tasks, maintaining medication lists, storing key documents, and assigning tasks to those in your trusted circle who are willing to help. CaringBridge can be used in conjunction to send broadcast wellness updates to the many people who want to be kept updated on their loved one’s condition, as well as send well wishes and share memories. Find out more about each individual company and their complementary services below.

What is CaringBridge?

In general, CaringBridge is an online service that provides the ability to broadcast wellness updates to a wide network of family and friends. With CaringBridge, users create a personal website and social network that enables them to share health updates, photos, and videos with a broad group of people who care about their loved one. Established in 1997, the global non-profit has created more than 67,000 sites as of 2015. This is a free service that is intended to amplify the love, hope, and compassion in the world. By using CaringBridge, users can share timely and important updates on behalf of a loved one. This helps keep a large network of people in the know about their loved one’s situation.

What is Caring Village?

Caring Village, on the other hand, is a must-have ”caregiver organizer” app. Caring Village’s online dashboard and mobile app makes it easy for family caregivers to coordinate caregiving activities and unify communication with a smaller, trusted village of family, friends, neighbors, etc. Families can access their loved ones daily schedule of events, medication lists, legal, medical and financial documents, daily care plans, and more, all in real time. They can also use the in-app secure messaging to ensure their conversations are private and secure. Caring Village helps families feel more in control and worry less, all while helping them reclaim their time.

How Caring Village and CaringBridge Can Be Used Together

In times of need, CaringBridge is a great way for families to share news and updates about a loved one with their entire social network of people (i.e., old high school and college friends, work colleagues, families in the community, as well as extended family members such as, aunts, uncles, and cousins) who want to know the status of the loved one, but are not involved in the day to day care. CaringBridge also helps alert the entire social network about the needs of the person being cared for, as well as the needs of their primary Caregivers. Using Caring Village in conjunction with CaringBridge, allows families to create a more intimate village of people who are willing and able to share in the daily care.

For example, Sally’s father Dan has a stroke. Sally creates a personal web page on CaringBridge where she shares wellness updates on her father’s condition with a very wide social network of family and both his and her friends, college roommates, former/present work colleagues, and neighbors. The people in the social network share words of encouragement and memories they have made with Dan. They are also kept up-to-date on his status.

Sally also creates a private, smaller, virtual village for her father using Caring Village. In her father’s village, she invites her mother, siblings, two of the older grandchildren, a few close family friends, and a next door neighbor to be involved in her father’s daily care routine. With Caring Village, they can make sure that their Dad’s medication list is updated, that his bills are paid, that he makes all his daily appointments, and that all of his medical, financial, and legal documents are current and securely stored within the app.

In the hour of need, both Caring Village and CaringBridge are exceptionally helpful tools. If you are caring for someone in need of assistance and need to keep a network of people informed, organized, and engaged, use both Caring Village and CaringBridge to help you with communicating and managing all of your caregiving responsibilities.

 

.