As the primary caregiver for my 80-year-old father, I searched in vain for an online service that would help me manage his health care, including medication reminders. I was surprised by the lack of attention paid to the needs of this market. That’s why I founded RememberItNow!
The chapter “Why Personal Online Health Networks Have Received So Little Attention” in this white paper about E-patients addresses this very issue.
The writers turned to Google Answers to research the question: How adult children use online family networks to care for aging parents. Although this research is from 2005, not much has changed. At the time this answer was written, Yahoo Groups was the only option. Since that time, Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault have launched, and while not that easy to use, they are a beginning.
Below are highlights from the answer that I found revealing. Especially since many of the features of RememberItNow! match the needs defined by the researcher. Looks like we are on the right track in addressing the needs of this underserved market.
Last year I set up a Yahoo! Group for my four siblings and me when it
became clear that my parents needed a great deal of help with some
health problems. The five of us siblings live within a two hour
distance from my parents? home. All five of us were determined to
pitch in with getting through the crisis but we all had many other
obligations.Researching your question I expected to find other examples of similar
use of online resources but I came up empty.I was able to find some research on family caregiving. These reports
describe who in the family fills what roles and it seems that most of
the time one person (frequently the oldest daughter) ends up taking
the lead in providing care. There is very little in these research
reports about how information is shared among caregivers and whether
online family networks are set up and used.
It seems that there is a dearth of specific information about the use
of online family networks in caring for elderly parents.
It is interesting that there are not more software/service options for caregivers. One of the reasons may be it is simply not a “sexy” market. Another reason may be that software developers often address problems that they face in their lives. Generally youthful, these entrepreneurs haven’t yet had to care for an aging parent, friend, of perhaps even a child. And, if they are the caregiver, they likely don’t have the time to dedicate to building software.
Tags: care community, online networks, research
