Caregivers face cash and time constraints. Caregiver´s duties can also trap them at home. One way to expand your reach, save money and make same day decisions is to use crowd sourcing.

CROWD SOURCING
Crowd Sourcing is the ability of an individual to gain the benefits of group buying.  Crowd Sourcing is a tool caregivers need to learn.  Crowd Sourcing detailed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing

GROUPON
Groupon is one example of the benefits of crowd sourcing.  Groupon is a company that offers one fantastic deal a day with massive discounts.  It is different each day, decisions can be made same day and it is a way to save.  And caregivers know, savings matter.

Learn more about Groupon at:
groupon: how it works

Musican Bill Withers created a proper tribute to his Grandma. Listen and appreciate how he talks about her, tells how she touched his soul and then the words he wrote for her.

An elder can choose which path he or she wants to explore. And for those elders which consistently nurture their best attributes, share those with their children and grandchildren, that light of wisdom will continue to guide and inspire for generations.

Enjoy this tribute from Bill Withers to his Grandma:

Super heroes go into the impossible situation, share their talents and rescue the day.  And this is done day in and day out, day after day by countless caregivers.  It is a courageous effort to be the main resource for a care receiver.  One of the major consequences of being a caregiver is you often become homebound.

Here at the Wisdom Flame, we are always thinking of ways for caregivers and care receivers to find common ground.  One way is for them both to be the super heroes.

GAMES WILL SAVE THE DAY
Yes, super heroes.  If you are homebound, suit up, plug into your computer, dive into an on-line world and start saving the day.  Yes, games.  Jane McGonigal is an exceptional visionary.  She is a game maker, entrepreneur and someone who believes our greatest challenges can be solved by game playing.

No, we are not talking about your shoot them up games filled with violence, mayhem and horror.  Rather, we are thinking about games built around solving our societies biggest challenges.  And with so many home bound hours for both the care receiver and caregivers, this might prove one way in which the worlds come together and both provide great help back to society.  All that stored up wisdom and problem solving skills could be unleashed.

Here in her Ted Talk, Jane McGonigal outlines her vision.  Enjoy and get in the mix! Click on the link below:

Here is also another interesting article on gaming for elders in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/arts/30seni.html

AGING IN PLACE TECHNOLOGIES

Families live at great distances from one another.  A son may live in Beijing, a daughter in Seattle and the widowed aging mother with a chronic illness alone in Boston.  The nearest cousin is in Chicago and her best friend retired in Costa Rica. This is the modern age.

This directly impacts a family´s principal caregiver and care receiver.  If you are the caregivers living across the country or around the world, there is a progressive caregiving question.

How will I take care of mom or dad when I am far away from them?  The answer is a mix of visits, support staff and increasingly aging in place technologies.

Aging Place Technologies View
Aging in place technologies present  possibilities as part of the caregiver plan.  These also present potential questions and challenges to overcome.

Aging Place System Description
At present the technology is basic.  It is a collection of sensors discreetly put about the house which learn how you live.  Once a natural flow is established, it will alert caregivers and requested friends if there is a dramatic change, perhaps a medical emergency.

For example, say you fall, are unable to call nor reach help.  Or you fail to go to the kitchen for several days and you miss meals. Both of these would indicate that the care receiver has had a major change.  And you should touch base with them to see that all is ok or if they need some help.

One company which thinks that the way we live amounts to a total change in society is General Electric and Intel.  Their big bet is that people will maintain this cellular versus nuclear family lifestyle.  They offer a product called  QuietCare (http://bit.ly/4GWCyt).  GE and other experts believe this will be a $7.7 billion (http://bit.ly/8ZhlAN) industry by 2012, as the baby boomers face caregiving roles for their elders and increasingly for themselves as well.

Microsoft also sees our lives becoming more Jetson styled. They are investing heavily in a technology that provides a computer that learns all about you and then makes recommendations. This one comes complete with a face to it.  (http://nyti.ms/cfYDbD)  Their product has yet to be applied to caregiving roles.  We can, though, see how it would be a natural fit to this aging in place technology trend.

Challenges + Concerns
Keep The Human Touch
The biggest challenge is the loss of the human touch.  Technology is a great warning system, support mechanism and useful tool to overcome the distances.  Yet, it is essential that the human touch be present. People need to feel connected, alive and integrated.  Part of a tribe.  And so, as much as technology can be an assistant and part of the caregiver team, it must be a supplement, not a replacement to the human bond, the connection that is unique, family.

Respect Care Receivers Privacy
The biggest obstacle is the issue of privacy.  All the proponents outline that all the information they have is simply around routines and that specific details are unknown. Yet from a care receiver´s perspective, there may be a feeling or concern over maintaining a sense of privacy.  This is a courageous conversation to be held between the caregiver and the care receiver.

As a balance must be found between the needs of the care receiver to feel autonomous, private and self reliant and the reality that if a care receiver needs help that they respect the caregivers’ need to be involved and part of the care team and that certain aging in place technologies can be useful.

Caregiver Team
Whether you include technologies as part of your caregiver team or opt out of them, it is essential to think through how you will develop a care plan if you decide to age in place versus consider alternative living arrangements.  As always, talk about it early, honestly and respectfully.

REST, REVIEW + RENEW
The first thing we say is take a mini vacation. Even if the budget is tight from all the caregiving commitments, then at least unplug from the world for a short spell. Use this time to rest and recover.

The next step is to reflect and review.  It is essential that you understand that the caregiving role impacted your life in terms of health, finances and energy.  For many caregivers, it dramatically drained time at the office due to the need to be present for your care receiver.  Now you need to unknot the tangle and commence a fresh path.

Reflect on your passions, hopes, skills and potential.  Then review the options or possible pathways you wish to explore.

COACHING, COLLABORATING + COMMUNITY
Caregiving duties often isolate people.  Confidence levels can drop, people call into question how the market place will react to their return to the workforce and changes in the economic climate can mean that your prior skills need to be updated or a new opportunity explored.

We recommend you build your network of know-how.
Coaching can provide the means to think through the options, put a plan together for pursuing a post caregiver career and serve as a contact point for meeting other caregivers who have returned to the workforce and understand what you are facing and experiencing as you explore life after caregiving.

Collaboration is essential to finding your footing. It is a mindset which needs to be kindled after caregiving, which is often a lonely duty. It is important to understand the power of collaboration and to reintegrate it at the core of your mindset.

Community is the most important.  Caregivers get cut off from the world in far too many cases.  It is time to reach out, nurture old and new friendships and develop your social network.  Community is the main source of emotional support and is key to finding new possibilities or building a team around a new venture you may pursue in your post caregiver career.
Reach Out.
Wisdom Flame is here to help you think through post caregiver life. Touch base with us.  We are happy to open up a dialogue with you and are excited for the possibilities you have in this all to often disorienting post-caregiver life.

PRISON TIME
We recognize that there are caregivers faced with limited financial resources or social networks to call into action in the short run. And this results in a period of isolation until the caregiver team is developed and a caregiver action plan is implemented that provides for respite and a balance.

KEYS TO PARADISE
Hidden in the prisoner´s dilemma are the keys to paradise.  These are the keys to the cinema.   Cinema brings together a much needed dive into the world of story. It generates a way to share in conversation with the care receiver far beyond the day to day medical needs of the care receiver.

It also cultivates the mind, stimulates dialogue and keeps you connected with peers and opens up fresh doors to others. There are many on-line communities and forums which discuss film.  It reaches into the soul.  Film can be paradise.
Cinema Paradiso: Ennio Morricone

STORY TELLING LESSONS
There is also the ability to learn about the art of story telling, which comes in handy as you and your care receiver document your own journeys. For both the elders and caregivers it serves as a means to relate stories and inner feelings via the characters they see.  This can ease some of the tension that builds between two loved ones faced with a chronically difficult situation.

WHERE TO START
As a caregiver, this homebound situation opens up the chance to explore a wide variety of film genres across the entire history of film.  Here is a great list of the top 1000:
http://www.icheckmovies.com/list/they+shoot+pictures+dont+they/

BANISH LATE FEES, INFINITE LIBRARY + GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE
You say you have no time to get to the video store, well there are other options.  The one which is a great offering of titles, zero late fees and has friendly customer service is NetFlix.
Check them out, they deliver to your door and you can repost them back from your post office box, where that service exists in your community.
http://www.netflix.com/

An non for profit organization called the Story Corps helps others record their stories.  And ultimately, share their stories with a broader audience.  Each story recorded is then added to the Library of Congress.

This is a beautiful gift of an individual to share their insights, life lessons and humor.  This is one of the largest oral history projects in history and is a powerful experience.

Listen to the founder tell the story of Story Corps:
Founder of Story Corps

We encourage you to explore and discover it.
www.storycorps.org

STOP THE NOISE

The challenges of caregiving can rub a soul raw.  It can drive an person to get caught up in a cycle of chronic complaining which saps the energy of everyone, starting with the caregiver her or himself. Chronic complaining in its most mild form is a vent, a release.  At its worst, it washes away the power of creative thinking, courage building and the enduring strength of love.  In other words, a caregiver can go from a world of clarity of purpose to a state of stress and drowning in noise.

We say, stop the noise and start the music.

START THE MUSIC

We call on both the caregivers and care receivers to dial down on the noise and replace it with the power of music.  When we speak of music, we speak of finding your voice across the full range of emotions, from the pain to the joy.  It means tapping into and cultivating the full spectrum of your personality.  A song is more than one note.

The question is how.  The basics of mastery in music are:

1. FINDING YOUR TRUE PASSION
2. DISCIPLINED CULTIVATION DAY IN AND DAY OUT
3. PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE
4. THE POWER OF MENTORSHIP, COMMUNITY AND SHARING
5. FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS
6. COURAGE TO SHARE THE STRUGGLE AS WELL AS THE TRIUMPHS

It is a must see.  While most of the critics focus on the humor or the box office sales figures, we focus on the message.  It is a brilliant story of collaboration between the generations and of the spirit of adventure.

COLLABORATION
The film portrays the tales of an elder and a youth.  And while they were miles apart on their understanding of each other at the outset of the story, they find mutual appreciation through collaboration and finally a true spirit of family and friendship.  It is this spirit of collaboration which is missing today. There is a chasm between the generations.

The key to spanning the gap is to build on-going adventures, collaborations and mutual story telling.  It is in this shared effort that fresh understanding emerges and takes root.

SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE
One of the keys to a full life is a spirit of adventure.  For our elders and caregivers, the day to day challenges can dampen the spirit and eventually cause it to almost fade away altogether.  We think it is crucial for elders to encourage their caregivers to take respite, explore the world and return to share their stories.

Wise elders understand the importance of healthy and balanced caregivers.  They recognize that caregivers facing chronic stress must have respite and restoration in order to be truly effective and enduring members of their care team.

Minor or major, the spirit of adventure is a crucial part of renewal.  Elders must respect and honor the hard work that you do.  And caregivers must do their best to share their stories in a respectful and engaging manner to spark the interest of the elder.

It is also up to elders to recall times within their lives, share programs that they have witnessed and to be proud that their caregivers continue to appreciate the vast world and its wonders.

Here is the region which originally inspired the setting for UP, it is in the heartland of Venzuela and Brazil.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUbawllGEy4&eurl

Here Nelson Mandela at 89 years old introduces the concept and organization The Elders in a video:
Nelson Mandela Introduces The Elders

PEACE STARTS IN THE FAMILY
Each elder in his or her own way can play the role of peacemaker.  It is one of the greatest testimony´s to a life well lived if they can find their voice and help share their wisdom. And that peacemaking and wisdom starts with the powerful relationship between a caregiver and a care receiver.