Care3 News & Events

Care3 1/18/17 Care3 1/18/17

Want to Be a Better Caregiver? Follow These 3 Steps...

By David Williams, Co-Founder & CEO, Care3. In this post, I am going to show you how you can take the best care of your loved one, get them to their best health outcome possible, and keep you sane and successful at the same time—all with a simple 3-step formula.

The #1 Struggle Primary Caregivers Face Today…

I have talked to hundreds of family caregivers. They've told me their stories about the challenges they face and the emotional toll caregiving can take on themselves and their families. I kept hearing the same thing....I even posted on Facebook and the first three comments confirmed what I was hearing.

Letting family members know about Care3
Praise

and what I hear is the #1 struggle:

Getting family and friends to help.

Family Caregiving in 2017 (and Beyond)

You already know that caring for a loved one has to result in reaching a goal.

Stay OUT of the hospital
Stay ON medications
Live INDEPENDENTLY as an aging adult

Most family caregivers don’t have a process in place to care. They do like I did at first. All of the medications and care tasks are written on paper.

When things change, though, how quickly does that system work? You spend more time updating the paper than giving care.

In 2017, we all use mobile phones. Why shouldn’t there be a mobile app that can help you care for your loved one and keep everyone in your family updated on the progress?

Shouldn’t the same also help organize the care tasks and get others to help?

Hmm….

I guarantee you that putting a process in place will help your loved one reach a care goal while also making your life smoother and easier. Using technology accomplishes this process even faster.

How My Mom Went from 12 Hospitalizations in a Year to ZERO.

This is us the day we moved mom back into her own home.

My brother, Mom, myself and my wife. My sister took the picture.

It was a happy day. We were a little nervous, but we knew that she could take care of herself. That was huge for our confidence…and her dignity.

This 3-Step Process Helped Us Manage the Care for Mom and Get Others to Help.

Here’s the reality:

Most people don’t use technology like mobile apps to manage the care for loved ones and communicate efficiently to family and friends.

If you aren’t organized then you can’t adhere to the care instructions. If you can’t adhere to care instructions, your loved one will end up in the hospital—or worse.

Don’t let that happen to your loved one. Caregiving is TOO IMPORTANT not to do right.

Step #1: Gather All of the Care Instructions and Make a List

First, gather all of your care instructions from all sources. You may have received care instructions via a brochure or printout after a doctor visit. You may have notes written somewhere like a medication list or something (ridiculous) like the BLANK worksheet I received one time from a hospital at discharge. How was this going to be helpful?

The point is, no matter how big or small, gather all of the care tasks that need to be done in one place and make a list.

For my mom, we had to gather discharge instructions, internet research, and written notes into one master list. We had to go through her prescriptions and medication history which was all on paper.

I entered the list into a spreadsheet and entered when each task needed to be done. It's a bit of work, but having that list made a HUGE difference in Steps 2 and 3.

Step #2: Decide Who You Trust

Second, think about the people who you trust to help you care for your loved one. Get the email addresses and phone numbers for everyone who wants to be kept updated.

Keep them handy for Step 3.

Think hard about who NEEDS to be kept up to date and who WANTS to be kept up to date. Prioritize the needs first. These people may be your family or maybe even close friends, but they have to be people who will help YOU.

When caring for my mom, my siblings and wife were the main care team, but we added my brother-in-law at times as well as close friends.

We used a group email to keep everyone in touch with the big updates. Day to day we just sent text messages. Using the technology made it easier to keep people in the loop, but also for them to respond. I didn't spend hours on the telephone telling the same story over and over again.

Step #3: Share Care Tasks with Everyone So They See How To Help

When people visibly see what they can do, even if it’s small, they feel like they can contribute. Most of the time, they just need to see how to help ahead of time so they can work it into their schedule rather than someone trying to tell them what to do.

This worked wonders for us as we cared for my mom. Even my siblings who were thousands of miles away, were able to actively help. We would agree on what each person would do. I emailed the spreadsheet to everyone and managed who would do what. It was a bit of a pain, but better than paper to track things.

When we cared as a team, mom got better and better. Nothing fell through the cracks, which is what was happening when she kept going back into the hospital. Technology was helpful in coordinating all the moving parts. Everyone contributed.

That is the secret!

But something was still bothering me...

There had to be a way to avoid using three different technologies, email, text messaging, and spreadsheets. It was easier to coordinate than using paper, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it should be.

And it was THAT revelation that led to Care3.

Care3 Makes The 3-Step Process Faster and Easier

Nowadays using mobile phones comes second nature, especially messaging apps. We already create group messaging conversations with family and friends with the popular messaging apps supplied on our phones.

Why not use the same mobile behaviors of messaging, task reminders, and a calendar to care for loved ones? That's why we built Care3. To help you be a better caregiver. And we help you get started with the 3-step process as soon as you sign up and install the app.

Care3 helps you complete the 3-step Care-Sharing process

Step 1: Your Care Team

Inviting your Care Team is as easy as adding a phone number or email address. Having your list of family and trusted friends ready will make this go very quickly.

Step 2: Your Starter Care Plan

Care3 helps you compile your care tasks with our Starter Care Plan. This is a list of eight common care tasks performed daily or weekly. Start with our list and add your own to customize in one step. It's that easy!

Step 3: Your Care Conversation

When you create a Care Team, Care3 automatically starts the group messaging conversation. When you finish your Starter Care Plan, you will be able to send text messages just like you would with any other messaging app.

Care3 is easy to get started, and works like any other popular messaging app.

The difference, however, is ENORMOUS:

With Care3 your text messages are private, confidential, and protected with industry grade security protocols. Rest assured that we treat your loved one's personal health information with as much care as you treat your loved one!

You Can Do This!

Right now, you have to take action.

Get started Care-Sharing now.

If you haven't invited your Care Team, do it.

If you haven't created your Starter Care Plan, do it.

If you HAVE done these things, then more power to you! You're ready to help your loved ones reach their highest level of health possible.

Good luck! We're with you every step of the way.

Questions or comments? Drop us a line at blog@care3.co/blog.

Care3 1/11/17 Care3 1/11/17

The Importance of the "Done" Button

Successful caregiving depends on having the goals set and the tasks (medications, ADLs, etc.) laid in a routine that you can follow every single day. The faster you get into that routine, that groove, the better your caregiving will be and the better your loved one will feel. To help you get into your caregiving groove fast, we’ve created a Starter Care Plan of eight (8) common care tasks that you can enter into Care3 as sequenced Actions. You can accept the Actions yourself or your Care Team can help out.

But once you receive these Actions, you must accept them—and more importantly, complete them! Once you’ve completed an action, you may just let one person know that it’s done outside of the app. Care3 has an easy way to notify everyone that an Action is complete: the “done” button.

The "Done" Button

In the detail of each accepted Action, you’ll see the “done” button tantalizing you at the bottom. Tapping this button automatically sends a message to everyone in the conversation, notifying them that you completed the Action.

It’s that easy. Give it a try!

Tapping the “done” button is important because it notifies everyone simultaneously that the Action is complete, and also visually verifies that the action is done. This means that there will be no confusion as to whether the action was complete and you don’t have to notify multiple people with multiple calls or texts to let them know you’ve done the job.

So for all Actions that you accept, don’t forget to tap the “done” button. It’s easy to do—and important for everyone on your Care Team.

Care3 1/2/17 Care3 1/2/17

Let's Make This New Year's Resolution Together

As we embark on a new year, and look back at the last, it’s important to recognize that we can’t bring back those we lost. But we can take even better care of those we will have in our lives. Let’s make 2017 a new beginning in how we care for our loved ones.

What You Know That Others Don't

As a member of Care3, you know something that most others don’t when it comes to communicating with family and friends about the health of loved ones:

You know how important it is to protect your loved one’s health information as you’re having text messaging conversations on your mobile device.

Most people still use unsecure apps for healthcare messaging like iMessage, SMS, Facebook Messenger, or WhatsApp. NONE of those apps protect the messages from your device to the cloud AND encrypt the stored data for ultimate security. Having your healthcare messaging conversations on Care3 ensures the protection of any personal health information shared as well as any data stored in the app.

Let's Make This Resolution Together

Let’s make this resolution together: if someone sends you a text message on one of the other messaging apps about the health of family or friends, let them know about Care3. Invite them to the app by starting a new conversation with them. Tell them that it’s not safe to have those kinds of conversations on apps that aren’t secure for healthcare.

If we all do this, then we can provide better care for our loved ones in 2017 by keeping their health information secure, and private from anyone watching while collaborating with family and friends.

In 2017 we will treat our loved ones’ health information with the same love and diligence we use when we care for them.

Share this post with as many people as you can to spread the word. Happy New Year!

Care3 8/8/16 Care3 8/8/16

The Top 5 Non-negotiable Features for Strong Caregiving Apps

After reviewing the major caregiving apps for consumers on the market, it became very clear that none meet the criteria needed to manage care outside of the hospital. Here are the five (5) non-negotiable features needed for caregiving apps (and check out this 100 second video for a clear review of these criteria).

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 messaging app. It's 100% FREE.