Five Must-Have Features for Family Caregivers Using Mobile Apps

Using mobile apps for caregiving hasn't caught on as much as it could. According to a caring.com survey, only 7% of family caregivers have tried using a mobile app to help with family caregiving. That has to change. In order for you to try an app, however, you should know the features that are must-haves. Check out the five that we believe are critical to any mobile technology for caregivers.

For a deeper dive, check out our FREE comprehensive guide, The Beginner's Guide to Using Technology as a Caregiver.

Mobile

Caregiving moves at the speed of life. Anytime, anywhere, something can happen, and something has to be done. So any technology for caregivers must be mobile. You're almost not in the game anymore if you don't have some kind of mobile presence or a mobile app – something that allows things to happen anytime, anywhere.

Secure

HIPAA compliance is no longer an option when it comes to sharing health information between patients and professionals using mobile devices. Therefore all mobile apps for healthcare must be secure, private, and guarantee the confidentiality of patient/family to provider communication.

Simple

The technology cannot be complicated. No one in a care situation can spend a ton of time trying to learn a new app, or some kind of new technology, when caring for a loved one and/or manage care. Finding the time to learn something tricky just isn't going to happen. It has to be simple, and it has to be intuitive, with no new behaviors.

Shareable

People want to be kept up-to-date on how patients are doing. Whether those people are helping to deliver care or not, they want to know at least what's going on, and that's why "shareability" matters. That way, you can alert family and friends of all the things that are happening quickly and effectively. Increased efficiency with updates is what the technology should provide to be ultimately shareable.

Accountable

The last one – and most important – is accountability. Caregiving is about getting it done, getting it done right, and getting it done on time, as prescribed. Not doing it – meaning failing to adhere to the care tasks and care plan – can have serious consequences. Sometimes life and death consequences. The technology must communicate, notify, and record when a task is performed. That way, we and the other people on the care team can know if there are any barriers or challenges to getting things done per the doctor's instructions. We have to follow the plan to the letter, because not doing so can have devastating effects.

Does your healthcare application meet these criteria? If not, then it's time for you to download and install the Care3 mobile app. It's 100% FREE.

#Care3How2 - Call Everyone in to Action

Welcome back to our series #Care3How2! We’re examining how you can use Action Messages in seven different real-world situations to ask for help, get support or share information. Today we’re delving into the the situation when you need someone to do an odd task. Just log in to Care3, and create your Action Message. Fill in all the important details and select who you want to receive the message (everyone or just certain individuals).

Recommended Actions • Give a Ride • Visit Your Loved One • Add Appointment • Pick Up Medicine • Get Answers • Buy Something • Do Something

Here are more examples of tasks and projects you could use Action Messages for:

• Help me clean and organize Pops’ garage • Need research on wills and estate planning • Granny’s yard needs to be mowed • Plan this year’s family reunion • Bingo with Aunt Shirley on Monday • Set Robbie’s audiologist appointment • Install safety bars in my bathrooms

There are many other unique forms of assistance needed in every different family, though. The important thing is to make sure you ask for help, whatever it is. As a primary caregiver, you can't hesitate or feel like you are putting people out. They want to help! They’ve said so many times. Allow them to pitch in and share the effort by simply telling them what’s needed in clear, specific terms. That way, these actions are easily completed, and everyone feels a sense of accomplishment in working together to support and care for your loved one.

Eliminate the stress, isolation and guilt of caregiving by communicating with everyone in your loved one’s life with Care3.

#Care3How2 - Remote Family Caregivers Power "C-Commerce"

Yes, #Care3How2 has done it. We've coined a new term for remote caregivers purchasing items for loved ones. We call it "Care Commerce" or "C-Commerce" for short. One of the challenges of caregiving is providing assistance from afar. In today’s migratory society, many adult children live in different cities and states than their elderly parents. This can lead to feelings of guilt and helplessness when it comes to the care their parents may require as they age. Being on a Care3 Care Team is a great way to keep family members and close friends who may live in other places involved in the ongoing care being provided for your loved one.

Recommended Actions • Give a Ride • Visit Your Loved One • Add Appointment • Pick Up Medicine • Get Answers • Buy Something • Do Something

What kind of help can be provided by out-of-town team members? In addition to offering answers, support and thanks to those who are the primary caregivers, these members can often take care of the purchase of caregiving supplies and other needed items thanks to the convenience of Internet shopping. You got it: C-Commerce. For example, let’s say your 81-year-old mother lives with your brother in another state and no longer drives. While you are unable to help with day-to-day errands and tasks, you still want to contribute.

Here’s one way. Now that your Care3 Care Team is set up and running, you receive an Action Message from your brother. It appears your mother wants to resume her beloved knitting hobby now that her tremors are under control due to medication. The problem is that her knitting supplies were somehow lost when she moved in with your brother. Eager to help out, you accept your brother’s Action Message by tapping “Accept” From there, you go online to purchase some yarn in your mother’s favorite colors as well as the knitting kit she used to have, which comes with all the needed accessories and tools. You enter your brother’s address for the shipping location, and voila! The Action has been satisfied! Not only have you saved your brother time and money, but your C-Commerce will make your mother feel cared for and loved.

That’s what caregiving’s all about, isn’t it? Caring from afar? Engage in C-Commerce.

#Care3How2 - Answers to Questions in Seconds is Infectious

In this #Care3How2 installment, find out how one Action can lead to another and another. You could say it's the "infectious" nature of caring. Beyond making it easy to get help with specific tasks and errands, Care3 can also help you gather information and advice from your care team, such as when illness strikes or there’s something you need to figure out quickly. Both caregivers and the loved ones they’re caring for can use Care3 messages to ask questions and receive answers in real time. People respond almost immediately to text messages so sending a request this way is likely to get people to act more quickly.

Recommended Actions • Give a Ride • Visit Your Loved One • Add Appointment • Pick Up Medicine • Get Answers • Buy Something • Do Something

Here’s an example to help illustrate. Imagine you’ve set up an Care Team for your beloved Aunt Leigh, an active senior who lives alone in the suburbs of your city. Aunt Leigh has recently come down with some sort of flu, and she’s unsure what daytime flu medications would be best for her symptoms. Since you’re swamped at work, you want to message your care team for their recommendations.

To do that, you simply create an Action Message in your Care Team conversation. From there you'll be prompted to enter your Action title (“Give me daytime flu med recommendations”) and you can add any additional notes on her symptoms or active ingredients that she has to avoid due to potential interactions with her other meds. You can then select whom the message goes to, everyone on the team or just select individuals.

Within minutes (or seconds!), various family members have chimed in with their battle-tested advice and suggested flu remedies. Cousin Simon has even offered to pick up the medicine he swears by at the pharmacy (there's that C-Commerce again) and bring it to Aunt Leigh at lunch. One Action generated another. Actions are infectious, right? Thus, neither you nor Aunt Leigh has to figure this out alone or worry about getting to the store. Your care team has her back, and now that they know she’s sick, they can check in on her as she recovers from this nasty bug and resumes her busy, independent lifestyle.

#Care3How2 - Can't Make the Pharmacy Run? What Now?

We’re spotlighting the different ways you can use Care3 to request help from your care team – from rides to social visits. Today we’re focusing on one of the most common errands for caregivers. How many times have you had to run to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription drug or an over-the-counter cold remedy for your loved one? And how many times has it been an inconvenience, given your busy schedule and the closing time of the pharmacy?

Recommended Actions • Give a Ride • Visit Your Loved One • Add Appointment • Pick Up Medicine • Get Answers • Buy Something • Do Something

Next time, instead of stressing about making it the drugstore between soccer practice and PTA, why not send out a request for help using Care3? Chances are, someone on your care team may be able to swing by and pick up Grandpa’s blood pressure medication. In addition, they’d likely be thrilled to lend a hand. Family and friends are always asking what they can do to help with Grandpa, right? This is one of the ways of answering that question and allowing others to pitch in with a clear, specific task.

Start by logging onto Care3 and clicking the Action Message icon in the Care Team conversation. Then enter the name of the medicine, the pharmacy, the pharmacy’s location and the time the prescription will be ready. In the “Notes” section, you may want to note the pharmacy’s closing time as well as anything else relevant, such as the expected price of the drug and the fact that the pharmacy already has all of Grandpa’s insurance information on file. Send off your request and receive a notification on your iPhone during soccer practice that your neighbor Ellen has volunteered. Click “Thanks” to show your gratitude and exhale knowing that it’s one less thing on your plate for today.

See how Action Messages get others to help? There’s still more you can do with them, though.

#Care3How2 - Party Time! Get Friends to Visit Your Loved One in an Instant

Care3 helps you organize your caregiving activities and share them with family and friends who want to help. In recent posts, we’ve discussed how you can use Care3 to coordinate a ride in just one tap using our exclusive Action Messages. Today we’re going to look at how Care3 can help you easily and quickly set up social visits, which can combat loneliness, isolation and depression as well as provide some downtime for you as a caregiver.

Recommended Actions • Give a Ride • Visit Your Loved One • Add Appointment • Pick Up Medicine • Get Answers • Buy Something • Do Something

Imagine that your elderly mother, who’s known as Nana, lives with you and your family. You’ve noticed that she’s been a bit down lately. She’s mentioned several times that she has not heard from her siblings or old friends in some time. Even though Nana tires easily, you’ve seen how a short social visit can really lift her spirits. So you decide to arrange a get together for Nana next weekend. As an added benefit, you’ll be able to slip out during the visit to run some errands and enjoy a little personal time. Sounds like a win-win, no? Plus, with Care3, you know you can set up a visit in seconds.

Start by logging on to Care3 and tapping the Action Message icon in your Care Team conversation. You will then be prompted to enter all the details that folks need to know – such as the date, time and location. Add any other important information in the “Notes” section, such as the fact that the visit will be capped at two hours to keep Nana from getting overtired. Then, instead of sending this Action Message to everyone on the team, you may choose in this instance to select just Nana’s area siblings, old friends and former neighbors so that it’s a more intimate gathering of the people she’s been missing. Keep tabs on your iPhone as one or more people accept the Action and your idea quickly turns into a reality.

See how Action Messages can streamline your efforts? Next up on the blog, we’ll examine how you can use Care3 to track appointments.

#Care3How2 - Requesting a Ride is Easy

Welcome to our series called #Care3How2! In this series we show you how to do some of the most common care activities on Care3 and why our care-sharing app is far more efficient than email or other mobile apps.

Are you a caregiver who’s trying to do it all? Or a remote family member who’d like to do more – from either near or far? At Care3, we’ve learned that many caregivers would love to have some assistance, but they’re simply too busy and overwhelmed to call around and see who might be able to pitch in. On the flip side, we’ve found that family or friends are often ready and willing to help out, but in many cases, they just don’t know how.

This is where Care3 comes in. By assembling a Care Team that’s connected via our messaging app, Care3 users are able to create Action Messages for help that reaches all team members. Compared to multiple phone calls and emails, a Care3 Action Message is a highly efficient way to put the word out and find out quickly who can lend a hand. Team members can also text thank yous just like a normal text message. Everyone’s involved and supporting each other, whether or not they can help with that particular task.

Recommended Actions • Give a Ride • Visit Your Loved One • Add Appointment • Pick Up Medicine • Get Answers • Buy Something • Do Something

So let’s take a look at exactly how Care3 works – in this case, getting a ride for your loved one (or giving it!). Imagine you are a caregiver for your aging father, who lives with you in your home. Your father, who suffered a stroke and can no longer drive, needs a ride to an occupational therapy (OT) appointment on Thursday. The problem is, it’s at the same time as a conference with your daughter’s third grade teacher, and neither appointment can be easily rescheduled. While this would be a stressful problem if you have little to no assistance, it’s easily solved when you have a Care3 Care Team behind you.

Start by logging on to Care3 and tapping the Action Message icon in your Care Team conversation. You will then be prompted to enter all the details that your team members need to know to determine whether they can help – such as the date, time, location, and length of the OT appointment.

Here's where it's super simple. See that check box labeled "Ride Needed"? Just tap that box to add the check and everyone knows that your father needs a ride to the appointment. Add any other important information in the “Notes” section and select whether you want this message to go to everyone or not. (You can also send it to only selected individuals.) Fire off your clear, specific Action Message and receive a notification minutes later that your cousin Robbie can give your father a ride. Send a “Thanks!” message to show your gratitude and smile as you see that other team members are sending their thanks to Robbie as well. It feels good to work together!

Oh, and don't forget to record the OT instructions, either so everyone knows how to help your father, too!

Getting a better sense of how Care3 works? It's time to take action. Download Care3 now!

Use Care3 LIKE A BOSS to Care for Loved Ones

Thank you for all you do caring for others! Check out the second video (<6 minutes) where our CEO, David Williams, walks you step-by-step on how to use Care3 like a BOSS to care for loved ones.

https://youtu.be/0qsIuXCyrK8

Bookmark this page so you can refer back to the video.

Questions? Comments? Email us at boss@care3.co/blog. We want to hear from you!