ShirleyBOARD.com's Patient Journal Helps Caregivers Connect with Family

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 ìcaregiversî to elderly friends, relatives and neighbors.

Fortunately, for the scores of remote caregivers who are in this difficult situation, there is a new free service called ShirleyBOARD.com. The web site enables caregivers to centrally store important information, keep a log of daily activities, and network with other caregivers. Caregivers decide who has access to certain information. ShirleyBOARD.comís most popular feature is the Patient Journal, which even has a ìtaggingî feature so caregivers can quickly retrieve journal entries on particular topics.

When updates are posted, Social Networking features allow others to be instantly notified, saving the caregiver hours of time while also creating a valuable journal of their journey with their loved one.

ìThere are approximately six million Americans serving as long-distance caregivers,î said ShirelyBOARD.comís founder Mark Willaman who created ShirleyBOARD to help him organize the responsibilities of caring for his aging mother. ìThatís why I launched ShirleyBOARD.com as a free service to help caregivers stay organized and better communicate with others involved in the older personís care.

The free site also includes other tools and features to help caregivers stay organized and communicate better. Some of those tools include: Photo Keeper for sharing photos; The PillBox to record prescription information, including names of medicines, dose sizes, etc; Document Keeper for uploading wills, power of attorney forms and other documents that you need to keep track of; and, Be a Peer/Find a Peer for users to search for fellow caregivers to get assistance or just connect to ask questions and share tips and stories.