When you worry and help and care for a family member, you become a member of the largest group of health care providers.

Consider:

• 5,564: Total number of hospitals (2017 Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals)


• 897,961: Total number of hospital beds (2017 Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals)


• 809,845: Total number of physicians (Statistics and Facts on U.S. Doctors)


• 2.9 million: Total number of home health aides and personal care aides: (2016, Bureau of Labor Statistics)


• 2.9 million: Total number of registered nurses: (2016, Bureau of Labor Statistics)


• 65.7 million (at least) and growing: Total number of individuals who care for a family member or friend (National Alliance for Caregiving, 2009)

Our numbers already set a record. Let's use our numbers to bring awareness to the critically important work we do while supporting each other along the way.

We'll start by holding the Unofficially Largest Virtual Caregiving Support Group Meeting on the second Wednesday of every month at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT, 6 p.m. MT, 5 p.m. PT). We're unofficial because we don't know if there's an official number. We held our first on July 10 and loved the connecting and sharing.

Anyone who cares or cared for a family member or friend is welcome to join us. During our next one-hour virtual meeting on August 14, we'll:

• Use our Caregiving Tools to start meaningful conversations about our caregiving experiences;


• Give away prizes including:
  
  
  
  • Free registration and $500 to attend our Fourth Annual National Caregiving Conference in November in Chicago. Prize value: $700 (You'll receive your cash in Chicago at the conference.)
  
  
  • A free seat at an upcoming Certified Caregiving Specialist™ training of your choice. Prize value: $399
  
  
  • A free seat at an upcoming Certified Caregiving Facilitator™ training of your choice. Prize value: $299
  
  
  • Complete set of session recordings from our Fourth Annual National Caregiving Conference so you'll feel like you were in the room with us. Prize value: $199
  
  
  • A Caregiving Comfort gift bag with my Take Comfort books and essential oils. Prize value: $180
  
  
  • Annual membership in our Caregiving Co-op. Prize value: $49.95
  
  
  
  

We'd love for you to join us! To register, reserve your seat, at the bottom of this post, to receive details on how to join us as well as a reminder on August 14.

Stay tuned for more record-setting activities, including:

• Largest International Caregiving Support Group Meeting, which will take place at our Fourth Annual National Caregiving Conference in November in Chicago.


• Largest Caregiving Conference Viewing Party, which will take place at our Fourth Annual National Caregiving Conference in November in Chicago.


• Largest Caregiving Chat

To reserve your seat, below, please first select your time zone so that your reminder will be added correctly in your calendar and you receive reminders for the correct time. We have attendees from several time zones join us so we want to make sure you join us at the correct time for your time zone.