Please Help!!

Caregivers Link is facilitating the creation of a community to set up initiatives that support caregivers, who are often neglected or taken for granted in India. Please help Caregivers Link gather information to set up this community. Follow this link for their message and request.

Message and Request from “Caregivers Link”

Caregivers support their loved ones, a very stressful job. Caregivers Link is intended to help and support the caregiver, a community that is neglected or often taken for granted in India. Please help them gather information to set up a multi-dimensional  support network for caregivers.

Read their message below (download links for their questionnaire included):

Caregivers Link

VISION STATEMENT:

We believe that all caregivers are entitled to a healthy and happy life, and so must have a support system of people and resources coming together with the caregiver’s unique situation providing a common focus.

MISSION
To link caregivers with each other and with the larger community of people, organisations, services and resources on the same platform. The aim is to create an environment of care, understanding and multi-dimensional support through a comprehensive approach that includes, among other strategic activities:-

– Increasing visiblity and awareness of the caregiver’s situation through education, awareness and sensitisation activities, including amongst caregivers themselves who tend to put their own needs last

– Keeping the caregiver in focus, addressing a wide range of issues that include mental, spiritual and emotional health, home based & part-time employment generation, rest & taking-a-break, access to available information on medical and paramedical and financial support, sharing experiences and dealing with isolation, and other problems that emerge or are identified during work in progress

– Initiating and helping to sustain activities and collaborations that put diverse information and resources within the reach of caregivers

Who is a caregiver? A caregiver is one who helps look after another person dealing with a health / disability issue, either of which may be due to any number of factors, physical, mental or psychological that hinders that person from leading their lives independently.

There are primarily two kinds of caregivers.

  • One is a professional, who may be a trained paramedic or such, and may be hired to help.
  • The other kind of caregiver, by far the most predominant, is likely to be a family / extended family member, and sometimes a friend, or even a work colleague.

CAREGIVERS LINK is intended to support this second kind of willy-nilly voluntary caregiver, though we will also include the professional caregiver in the wider scope of the work we’d like to do.

Unfortunately, we take it for granted that parents, children, spouses, partners, siblings and friends will assume the caregiver’s role under most circumstances. This does often happen and the primary caregiver becomes someone who puts their life on hold, takes a break from work, or quits a job, stops meeting up with friends, disappears from functions and family gatherings, and over a period of time suffers the consequences in all ways, mental, material, financial and spiritual.

WHAT IF… there was a way caregivers could connect with each other and with resources of all kinds, healthcare, corporate, part-time home based employment, home services, entertainment, fitness, social care groups for caregivers?

This is what we’re exploring and it would be great if you could be a part of the process.

As a first step, we’d like to compile two simple lists.

  • Caregivers who’d like to be a part of the link.
  • Resource organizations, groups, corporate entities and individuals who’d like to explore the possibility of engaging with CAREGIVERS LINK.

What we need from you:

Your feedback and information to help us facilitate the setting up of this community and resource database. For this, we have designed three questionnaires, aimed at:

Your participation is the beginning of this link.

You can e-mail it back to us at shikha.aleya@gmail.com

OR post it addressed to:

Shikha Aleya (9819842520)

E-101, Gurudarshan CHS, 2nd Cross Road, Plot No.7, Lokhandwala Market, Andheri (W), Mumbai – 400058.

Also, please share this page link with anyone who you think may be interested.

We are extending the time period for the preliminary information gathering to 31 August, 2010.

We would appreciate any help you give: Thank you!!

More on us: The people trying to put together Caregivers Link are:

Shikha Aleya : Writer, researcher and communication professional with two decades of work experience in the corporate and the development sector and also the television & entertainment industry. Shikha feels strongly about equality, independence, inclusion and a fair world. She is a consultant with organizations in the NGO sector and is designing projects of continuing interest to her related to animals, children and our value systems. Her number is 91-9819842520 and her e-mail is:shikha.aleya@gmail.com

Sophia Murphy: Writer, researcher and freelancer involved with diverse media and communication ventures. Has over a decade of experience in the field of marketing, before making a shift to the television and entertainment industry. Currently promoting and marketing Kinner Camps in Sangla valley. Can be reached at 91-9892107040 Her e-mail is: sophiemurphy@gmail.com

Janet Sunita: Is a management professional with over 3 decades of experience in the corporate, banking and social development sectors. She is currently working with an NGO in New Delhi. She can be reached at 91-9810520543 and her e-mail is: janetsunita@yahoo.com

Devashri Mukherjee: Has worked with Ashoka: Innovators for the public and brings with her over two decades work experience in the Indian citizen sector, having been involved in exciting initiatives at an education resource center, a leading Indian funding agency, and one of the first education portals of India. Her interest lies in creating children’s education material, and her children’s stories have been published as resource materials. Devashri holds a Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Kolkata and is based in Mumbai , India . In her spare time, she enjoys art museums and classical music. Her number is 91-9819707960 and her e-mail is: devashrim@yahoo.com

Please contact us at any of the above email addresses for any further questions, suggestions.

We look forward to hearing from you. Again, thank you for your time.