Share the Care: Harnessing the Power of Informal Networks for Short Term, NonProfessional, Community Based Care Teams

Share the Care: A community based model for creating supportive teams for caregivers and patients

On a national level, the US faces a major crisis in long term care organizationally, financially, and demographically, given the surge the population of aging boomers and our elders. Our existing long term care institutions will not suffice; what are our options? One practical, alternative vision is of a society where caregivers don't “burn out”—instead, they share the burden of caregiving with a “team” of eight to thirty people--and in so doing, find solace, support and even joy. This model, based on an award winning consumer book, Share the Care, is a blueprint for a low-cost, innovative community-based approach to caregiving for those with disabling chronic diseases or difficulties associated with aging.

This session will describe a model program that empowers ordinary people to form a caregiving group, to get organized, and to stay organized while making the best use of their common resources, skills, contacts and talents.

Presentation will include ancedotal evidence of possible cost savings and health benefits from this group-oriented, community-based model. The Beatles generation--who sang "Help, I need somebody!"--may be on the cusp of discovering how to find that somebody when they're needed. Can this simple idea-- of organizing friends, family, neighbors, coworkers and others into a functional group during a time of need--really change the paradigm of caregiving in the US?