Share the Care: A model for group caregiving

You live with your spouse, have no children and one brother lives an hour away ... and you're diagnosed with cancer. You're living with aging parents, have never married, and suddenly sustain serious injuries in an automobile wreck. You're retired, living alone and now it's time for a knee replacement. The above scenarios have two things in common -- a long recovery coupled with a very short list of obvious caregivers.

When caregiving rests on the shoulders of a small circle, caregivers risk burnout. Also, Americans are highly mobile today, with extended families scattered across the country -- family caregiving is not a guaranteed option. But it is entirely possible to harness the caregiving strength of a wider group of friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances with proper organization and planning, made easier by a group caregiving model developed by Share the Care.

Share the Care started in New York City in 1995 after a group of strangers gathered together to organize caregiving duties for a terminally ill friend. Cappy Capposela and Sheila Warnock, two caregivers in this special group, have since developed a caregiving model to teach others how to organize a caregiving team and written the book Share the Care. If you need assistance in organizing a group to care for someone in need, check out Sharethecare.org for more information.