Caregiving Corner: Online support for family caregivers
By Medicine Hat News on July 13, 2018.
For the last 10 months I’ve been a member of Huddol.com, a free, online social networking community for anyone impacted or involved with caregiving. The community members include family caregivers, professional caregivers, health professionals, businesses and many more. There are more than 10,000 people in the Huddol social learning community, many of them just like you. There are about 1,000 professional, 60 health charities and more than 100 health care organizations all ready to help. It’s basically a “one-stop shop” for anything related to caregiving and there’s someone who can answer pretty much any question. There are “Huddols,” or communities that offer support on various topics, diseases, treatment and resources for caregivers. For example, you’ll find information and resources for diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, mental illness, ALS and more. Information and options about topics like long term care; respite; elder care; rural living, and wellness, and many more, are also available. There are numerous Huddol communities and you can easily search for the ones that interest you. When you join Huddol.com, you are asked to complete a profile. Be sure to complete this step. They ask for only basic information and anything you share is kept confidential. This helps the platform find you the resources best suited for your situation. Based on the information you provide about your caregiving situation, they will find you Huddol communities of people who are going through the same situations as you, organizations in your area who can help, and other resources that are helpful for you on your caregiving journey. After you join, find the three communities I started: Gratitude Rocks; After Caregiving Ends; and Caregiving From a Distance. The Caregiver Network launched the Huddol online platform in fall of 2017. The Caregiver Network is a Pan-Canadian non-profit that started in 2004 and has been providing programs and services to about 150,000 people annually. The Caregiver Network is now providing all programs and services under Huddol.com with these two main components: online learning and the Huddol.com online community. I highly recommend you check out this valuable resource at huddol.com Lorna Scott is a caregiver strategist, a member of the Caregiver Coalition of Southeast Alberta and The Caregiver’s Lighthouse; and is author of the best selling book “Walking the Journey Together É Alone.” She may be contacted at Lorna@TheCaregiversLighthouse.com or 403-548-8437 9-8
