Reliable Websites

Are you looking for a dementia expert who can guide you through every step in the journey? Pam Ostrowski, founder of Alzheimer's Family Consulting, is a gift to families dealing with Alzheimer's or dementia. She’s been in your shoes. Through her dementia guidebook and personal coaching, Pam will help relieve the frustration, guilt, and decision-fatigue that can be part of the dementia caregiving journey.  Pam is a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)®, Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP®), and Certified in Dementia Care® (CDC®) 

This website explains caregiver fatigue, offers free resources, caregiver quizzes & tips plus much more!  

Looking for resources for Caregivers?  This is the place!  NAC's mission is to be an "objective national resource on family caregiving with the goal of improving the quality of life for families of choice and families of kin."  This website is full of helpful resources.

Caring Bridge allows you to share health updates with family and friends and coordinate their help. People wanting to support you and the patient is wonderful, but it can also be overwhelming, Caring Bridge will allow you to set up a personal webpage for the patient and request/accept offers of help.

Peter Rosenberger has over 30 years of experience caring for his wife, Gracie.  He has books, a podcast, a radio show, and more. 

Looking for some personalized support?  Nicole Dauz may be your answer! Being a mother of two children with special needs, Nicole knows a lot about the stresses of caring for another.  She offers "one-on-one self-care coaching for caregivers who want to regain control in their lives." Check her site out to see if it's a good fit!

Theresa Wilbanks offers personal caregiver support. She is a Certified Caregiving Consultant whose vision is to "make every caregiving journey less stressful and more meaningful".  She currently is caring for her 99-year-old father and has 25 years of formal work experience so she can empathize with where you are today. Theresa will work with you one-on-one to strategize and develop solutions to support your caregiving needs.  

This site will educate you on the benefits of music therapy and how to access quality music therapy.  I love the idea of music therapy. I mean I know music can definitely affect my mood.  Also, on their site, they talk about the clinical and evidence-based use of music therapy.  Check it out - music therapy may help your sick loved one!

Primary Record is a mobile application that families use to replace their medical binders. With a special community code, BADASSADVOCATE20, a family can begin their medical homebase to securely connect to patient portals, organize health data in one place, take notes, and invite their care team to share their health story. 

The Hip Senior is a digital magazine, directory and podcast specifically geared towards seniors. The owner, Marianne, focuses on connecting seniors to businesses that have the heart and the soul to serve them. 

Ways 2 Wellness is a custom publishing company on a mission to support seniors and dementia caregivers. Each publication contains custom-created, stimulating puzzles, games, and art projects for your seniors. Fun topics every month keep the mind engaged while stimulating the brain. 

There are two things I like about The Free Medical Dictionary. One, when you type into the search bar a list of options populates. This is so helpful when you are typing in the name of a medication or disease that you aren't 100% sure how to spell. Second, when searching for a term, a list of relevant periodicals and articles will populate which can aid in your research.  

Searching for the best doctor for your loved one? Health Grades will allow you to search for the kind of doctor your loved one needs in their area. They also include which is such a great way to assess if they are a good fit. 

The Medicine Net provides a lot of great information. This site includes a medical dictionary, information on medications/ supplements, and an entire section on diseases and conditions.  Happy digging!

Similar to Medicine Net, on WebMD, you can search for information on medications & supplements as well as conditions & diseases (including those specific to children). You also can search for podcasts, read message boards, find a doctor, and much more!

You may remember Webster's Dictionary from when you were in school ~ here is an online version of their medical dictionary.  I like this site because you can easily search for medical terms and abbreviations. Most of all, I love their motto "Become an informed health-care consumer!"

The National Center for Biotechnology Information is one doctors and pharmacists use to access biomedical and genomic information and you can use it too! The resources on their site seem endless.

PubMed® is part of the National Center for Biotechnology Information site and comprises more than 35 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. This is great place to dive into your badass research. 

Medline Plus® shares information on health topics, medications, and supplements.  They also have a section on medical tests and have a medical dictionary. 

Bio-Med Central offers access to high-quality peer-reviewed journals. Another great resource when doing your badass research.

What I love about Care Calendar is that not only can you easily create a calendar to organize meals and visitors, but they will also send actual printed cards for you!  How cool is this? They will handwrite the message, address and stamp it and then send it. Talk about service. You can find the cards under Gift Shop.

Lotsa Helping Hands will help you coordinate meals, coordinate rides to appointments, and set up care with family and friends. Also, if interested, you can act as a volunteer for someone in your neighborhood who needs help.  This site will for sure support you in your Badass Advocate journey! 

Meal Train is another great site to help you manage meals.  Not only does Meal Train allow you to create an online meal calendar but it also allows you to include a list of dietary needs, set up a donation fund, send invitations & email reminders, and more. 

Sign Up Genius is a site you can use to organize a group.  Whether it is meals or visitors, sign up genius allows you to create a signup, invite others, and send out reminders. 

Take Them A Meal not only organizes meals, but they also send prepared meals. Click on the tab "Send Them A Meal" and choose from a variety of meal choices. The good news is they also cater to different diets (Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-Free, etc.) and they offer gift cards. 

This link will take you to a page explaining how to set up a personal fundraiser through Facebook. 

Fundly will guide you on how to set up a donation website and customize it to fit your needs. They have no raise requirements or start-up fees. 

Go Fund Me's goal is to make setting up a fundraiser easy by following 3 simple steps. You will create a campaign with a fundraiser goal, share it with family and friends, and then manage the donations. 

When someone close to you passes away, you join a club that you never wanted to join. The only positive thing about there being a club is that others can truly understand you. Camp Erin allows children and teens (ages 6-17) to bond with other children who have gone through something similar. Camp Erin is a weekend camp that includes both camp activities and grief support and - gets this - it is free of charge for all families. See if there is a Camp Erin near you.  

What an amazing organization! Experience Camps offer grieving children a free, one-week camp where they can connect with other children who are in the same position. 

Family Lives On supports grieving children. Their mission is to "support the lifelong emotional well-being of children whose mother or father has died." On their site, they also explain that their "program provides opportunities for intentional remembering, creating a safe haven for grief, communication, and celebration." I LOVE this!  

Aging with Dignity provides families with end-of-life documents and conversation guides for their aging or dying loved one. Five Wishes is a document that asks the patient 5 key questions to help them with end-of-life decisions.