Last year, Wellthy set out to address one of core challenges facing millions of caregivers every day: the social isolation felt by so many people juggling care for their loved ones amidst all of life’s other pressures. Despite the fact that at least 53 million people identify as caregivers just in the U.S. alone, caregiving can feel lonely, frightening, and like it’s something to hide.
We launched Wellthy Community – our peer network enabling Wellthy members to connect online to others with shared caregiving journeys – in hopes of enabling a sense of connectedness and support for so many families, and to empower caregivers to share challenges, ideas, and resources to make the act of caregiving a little less lonely.
One year into Wellthy Community, we’re so excited at the momentum building – and for some of the feedback from Wellthy members about the impact of Community on their lives.
“I leaned on Wellthy Community for advice. I was looking for some guidance, things to think about, what needs to be done, just kind of general support along the way. There is a good source of resources there, including end-of-life checklists which were helpful,” says Chris L. “I found great comfort in knowing that I wasn’t the only one, and there were so many other people in the same situation trying to balance a full time job with caregiving duties."
As we mark this first anniversary, we want to take a quick moment to reflect on some amazing ‘year in review’ data that shows how Wellthy members are utilizing Community to drive a culture of connection, and access social support whenever and wherever they need it.
“Community” year in review
A few highlights from an impressive year of Community engagement:
- 350+ questions asked of expert Wellthy’s Community Moderators, with more than 570 responses to help people find caregiving solutions;
- 10 events held to bring together Wellthy members under the Community umbrella and connect them to one another;
- The most popular topic forum under Wellthy Community is aging – matching nationwide trends in care support with more than 41 million family caregivers providing care for aging relatives.
- Some of the most popular discussion questions raised in Wellthy Community: (1) How to offer help without intruding or enabling dependence? (2) What are the best things you did or what do you wish you’d done differently when caring? (3) General forgetfulness or something more serious – what to keep an eye on?
- Our most popular Community Moderator advice came on the question of ‘How do you know when it’s time to hire an in-home caregiver for an elderly parent?’: “Like most decisions when caring for someone, knowing when to take this step can be challenging. A tip that experienced family caregivers often share is, if you are asking yourself when it’s time to seek out more help, then it is probably time. Adding a companion or caregiver can benefit both you and your loved ones.”
What’s unique about every discussion on Wellthy Community is that you can’t find these answers online – these are scenarios that require you to talk to someone who’s been there. Wellthy Community is full of family caregivers living these experiences daily, and expert Moderators who work on Wellthy’s Care Team who have well-equipped backgrounds in geriatric specialties, social work, home health rehab, and more.
And this is only just the beginning. There is such a wealth of caregiving knowledge in Community – both from Wellthy’s experts as well as the thousands of families we work with every day who balance caring for loved ones on top of life responsibilities. Here’s to year two, and an increasingly robust platform to help lessen the isolation felt by so many caregivers, and to help people feel supported and find real answers to all their caregiving questions.
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