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The Faces of Caregiving

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Way back when, in December of 2008, I attended a conference called “Consensus Development Conference on Caregiving: Agenda for Action,” hosted by National Health Council. Participants at the invitation-only conference developed a white paper to address the nation’s growing need to support and help family caregivers of the disabled, chronically ill and frail elderly.

About 50 (if I remember correctly) professionals working with persons with a chronic illness and their family caregivers gathered to discuss problems and solutions. Obviously, our conference had little impact because what you experience today is only slightly easier than what a family caregiver experienced in 1998. Anyway, at the end of the two-day conference, we provided feedback on how such a conference could be improved.

“Hang the photos of family caregivers on the walls on our meeting rooms,” I suggested, “so we always remember why we’re here.”

Since then, I’ve always wanted to create something like that—a wall of photos of family caregivers.

Fast forward almost 14 years (can you believe it??) and the Internet has provided us a way to create such a wall. The solution came from Pinterest, a new site that acts like your kitchen’s bulletin board on which you hang favorite photos and quotes. On Pinterest, I’ve created a bulletin board featuring The Faces of Caregiving.

I’ve begun to pin up photos of family caregivers here. I’d love to include yours. Just send me (denise@caregiving.com) a link to a photo. No link? You can email me the photo and I’ll take it from there. You can send me a photo of just you or of you and your caree. Please also include description about yourself and your caregiving situation, which I’ll also include.

Be sure to stop by The Faces of Caregiving regularly to see who we add.

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Comments

  1. Bette

    February 22, 2012

    Denise,
    Your bulletin board is very powerful. Thank you for beginning a place to share such photos – each representing something that we can all relate to and find comfort in.

  2. Trish

    February 22, 2012

    Denise, What a fantastic idea! I haven’t joined Pinterest yet but it seems to be all the rage. Love the wall you’ve created. I hope it’s just as you envisioned 14 years ago! Your dedication to caregivers always warms my heart.

  3. BreeAnna

    February 22, 2012

    I emailed some in but forgot the description, let me know if you need that.

  4. Jan

    February 27, 2012

    Love to see the faces. It helps us to connect in a more tangible way!

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