Caregiving Industry Leaders Launch Family Caregiver Resource Website

"The rapidly growing number of family caregivers in the U.S. -- 44 million -- impacts every aspect of family life, from physical and emotional health to finances and workplace productivity," says David Inns, CEO of GreatCall, the Council's organizer. "When we came together as a Council, the first issue we identified was the lack of self-identification. Family caregivers are daughters, sons and spouses first. They have not planned for this time-consuming, stressful role nor do they think of themselves as 'caregivers'. This website was developed to provide access to the best resources available across the spectrum of family caregiving needs -- and is the ideal starting point for any caregiver journey."

The site, familycaregivercouncil.com, discusses issues and provides the best vetted resources in six key areas of caregiving: technology, transportation, hiring help, housing, financial issues and you, the caregiver. The website is organized into the areas most critical to caregiving. Each of these sectors offers the caregiver key, curated resources in their areas of greatest concern, wherever he or she is on the journey. For example, the technology section identifies sub-sections that save search time: safety and security, health and wellness, care coordination and social engagement. Resources can also be accessed directly through a comprehensive directory.

"As David noted, we know from research that family caregivers also struggle with the massive amounts of information available on the Internet. How to find the correct resources for their situation? How to know that these resources are credible? This website helps in two ways: It provides a narrative framework for caregivers to recognize themselves, as well as vetted resources that will be useful to them at different stages of their caregiver journey," adds Gail Gibson Hunt, President & CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving.

"Caregiving is challenging enough as it is, so family caregivers don't want to waste valuable time. They want help from sources they can trust and they want it fast," says John Schall, CEO of Caregiver Action Network. "There are so many areas, challenges and sometimes unexpected obstacles where family caregivers could benefit from support. This website can guide caregivers to the help they need without a lot of searching."

Caregiver Council members include: Scott Collins, CEO, Link-age; Danielle Glorioso, Executive Director, UCSD Center for Healthy Aging; Gail Hunt, President & CEO, National Alliance for Caregiving; David Inns, CEO, GreatCall; Margaret Kabat, National Director, Caregiver Support Program, Department of Veterans Affairs: Brooks Kenny, Strategic Advisor, Lotsahelpinghands; Sona Mehring, CEO, CaringBridge; Susan Reinhard, SVP Public Policy, AARP; John Schall, CEO, Caregiver Action Network; Kai Stinchcombe, Co-Founder & CEO, True Link; Sherwin Sheik, President & CEO, Care Linx; Louis Tenenbaum, Founder, Aging in Place Institute. The Council's advisors include Laurie Orlov, Founder, Aging in Place Technology Watch; Sally Abrahms, writer on aging and caregiving; and Mary Furlong, CEO, MFA.

About GreatCall

GreatCall is the leader in connected health for active aging. With health and safety solutions for older adults and their family caregivers, GreatCall's innovative suite of easy-to-use mobile products and award-winning approach to customer care helps aging consumers live more independent lives. Products and services include: Lively Wearable, Lively Alert, Jitterbug Flip, Jitterbug Smart and health, safety and wellness apps Urgent Care, GreatCall Link, MedCoach and 5Star.

GreatCall's products and services are sold nationwide at leading retailers as well as direct to consumers at 1-800-296-4993 and online at GreatCall.com. Service covers the U.S. GreatCall is headquartered in San Diego, CA. To learn more about GreatCall products and services, please visit www.GreatCall.com. This news release and other corporate assets are available at www.greatcall.com/newsroom or follow our news on Twitter @GreatCallinc and on Facebook at Facebook.com/greatcall.

For information on the National Alliance for Caregiving, go to www.caregiving.org and for the Caregiver Action Network, towww.caregiveraction.org. Other member organizations include:
www.aarp.org, www.carelinx.com, www.caringbridge.org, www.linkageconnect.com, www.lotsahelpinghands.com, www.louistenenbaum.com,www.sira.ucsd.edu, http://www.caregiver.va.gov and www.truelinkfinancial.com.