My Husband’s Hospitalization tomorrow
My husband Pete is having open heart surgery on Monday. He will be at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto. As he has many friends and family who want to know how he is doing, I am using a new app that I learned about called Caring Bridges.
Caring Bridges Test Drive
According to its mission, Caring Bridges is “a global nonprofit social network dedicated to helping family and friends communicate with and support loved ones during a health journey”.The site I am using is part of a worldwide span of the site and again according to the mission “Since 1997, more than 675,000 CaringBridge websites have been created.
Communicating Updates Sans Screen Time
It allows me to post his condition each day so everyone can check in on the site if they wish and find out how he doing. This cuts down on emails, social media posts and makes communication with concerned family members and friends so much easier.
The sites tout, and I think this is true, easy communication with everyone at the same time- cutting down posting on your phone, that takes away either time with the patient or taking care of yourself as a caregiver.
There are no ads and it’s private so you have a way to keep only the people you choose to be updated. Resources for caregivers are abundant -, caregiver books, personal stories, tips on dealing with stress caregiver burnout. Plus there are avenues to mobilize help. I am going to use the site to organize meals to be delivered the first week my husband is discharged so I can spend time with him and not have to cook.
Highly Rated By Charity Navigator
It is fueled by donations so they ask often ask that you donate, However, Charity Navigator labels it highly rated
I will be using the site all this week and will give you my rating of the app, when Pete comes home, although I will probably keep using it for a few weeks. If you are looking for an app for family communication when an older person is in the hospital-, this would be an app to check you
Find out more about Cathy at cathycress.com
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