% '------------------------------------------------------------ ' This function finds the last date of the given month '------------------------------------------------------------ Function GetLastDay(intMonthNum, intYearNum) Dim dNextStart If CInt(intMonthNum) = 12 Then dNextStart = CDate( "1/1/" & intYearNum) Else dNextStart = CDate(intMonthNum + 1 & "/1/" & intYearNum) End If GetLastDay = Day(dNextStart - 1) End Function '------------------------------------------------------------------------- ' This routine prints the individual table divisions for days of the month '------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub Write_TD(sValue, sClass) Response.Write "
Cross-Continent Caregiving
Made Simple
Free Online Tool was Named After Founder’s Mother
Almost everyone knows someone older who needs a helping hand. And with the
U.S. population aging and experiencing increasing numbers of age-related
diseases like Alzheimer’s, more people are becoming unofficial “caregivers”
to elderly friends, relatives and neighbors.
But taking care of a loved one can be far from simple. Studies show that
many caregivers already work full-time and live more than an hour from the
person for whom they care. Trying to coordinate medical appointments,
monitor and fill prescriptions, and manage insurance claims can be daunting.
In fact, between five and seven million Americans currently care for loved
ones who live more than one hour away, according to research from the
National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. This makes it difficult for
caregivers to find local resources and manage the person’s care remotely, as
well as communicate information to healthcare professionals, family and
friends.
Web Site Untangles Tasks
Fortunately, for the scores of remote caregivers who are in this difficult
situation, there is a free new service called ShirleyBOARD.com. The web site
enables caregivers to store important information centrally, keep a log of
daily activities, and network with other caregivers. Caregivers decide who
has access to certain information.
ShirleyBOARD.com’s most popular feature is the journal which has a “tagging”
feature so you can quickly retrieve journal entries on particular topics.
“There are approximately six million Americans serving as long-distance
caregivers for elderly parents and relatives, while also trying to care for
their own immediate families and maintain full-time jobs,” said
ShirleyBOARD.com”s founder Mark Willaman.
“That’s why I launched ShirleyBOARD.com as a free service to help caregivers
stay organized, better communicate with others involved in the older
person’s care, and find a local resource for a patient—like a doctor, home
health agency or handyman—even if they aren’t familiar with a patient’s
hometown.”
And Willaman speaks from experience. He currently lives in California while
providing long-distance care to his aging New Jersey-based mother, Shirley,
after whom the new service is named.
Information is Centralized
In addition to providing online tools for communicating, Willaman also
wanted the site to help caregivers overcome another challenge: keeping
organized.
Caring properly for a loved one often requires a caregiver to stay on top of
a mountain of records—legal files, medical information, doctors’ numbers and
more. Consequently, ShirleyBOARD.com offers a number of ways to organize and
share information, including a virtual “pill box” for keeping prescription
records and a personal medical contact database.
While the features are private, ensuring that no one else can access the
caregiver’s files, users can choose to share items from their journals or
records. This gives caregivers another way to locate each other and discuss
specific treatments, prescriptions or other aspects of caregiving.
The site also offers helpful articles, an online calendar, photo sharing and
an alert feature that immediately updates friends, healthcare professionals
and others on new events or changes in your journal. The alerts work
instantly, and without going through email, avoiding the problem of missed
phone calls or updates getting buried in inbox spam.
While ShirleyBOARD.com is still rather new, Willaman said he’s pleased it’s
already helping caregivers get organized, communicate better and find help
and support in taking care of their loved ones.
StatePoint media service.