Renee Fry-Hawker of www.MakingCareEasier.com talks about founding Making Care Easier to help famlies caring for elderly parents

Renee Fry, one of the co-founders of Making Care Easier, talks with Radio Entrepreneurs to discuss how and why we founded MCE.  This video is a brief intro to the interview which talks about how we help caregivers, families caring for elderly parents and those caring for sick the ill. Find out more at www.MakingCareEasier.com .  

How We Became Our Best Test Users

Over Christmas, Dad had a heart attack.  As with most emergencies, we didn’t know it was coming.  But, we were prepared.  Thankfully, we already were using Making Care Easier for our own family, so we knew where all his information was and mom was able to guide him through the admissions and examination processes easily.  Once we knew what we were dealing with, we put up a note to his care team and on Facebook alerting family and friends what was happening.  Facebook is great for sharing pictures of my nephew and general updates, but it’s not private enough to share health updates and not where daily tasks and appointments should be shared.
  
Through MCE, we were able to access his emergency information and keep everyone up-to-date.  I was able to jump on the MCE mobile app and alert everyone when he was going into surgery.  The hospital had free Wi-Fi, so I was able to grab my iPad and add new members to his team and alert everyone when we needed something.  When I got home, I went online to the MCE website to send group e-mails to his MCE care team and personal messages to the dozens of people who wanted to know how things were going.

Not only did I save time, but I was able to keep everyone updated throughout the process.  Plus, a few family friends asked to join his care team, which we gratefully accepted.  As a happy, unexpected result, I was able to rekindle friendships and get help from those I never would have considered asking prior to using MCE.  While we hadn’t used mom and dad’s MCE account on a daily basis, it was great to have when we needed it.
For us, it was more than just accessing information when we needed it and e-mailing out updates.  We were able to send out tasks, find products and share articles and other information.  Not only did we deal with the firestorm of questions, but we were able to mobilize our friends and family.  We were able to send out tasks like “Who’s going to bring Liam to the hospital to visit?” or product requests like “Dad needs shirts that button down the front”.  Even today, we continue to share articles and update his medicine charts as things change.  Best of all, we could track what was happening and people on our care team felt like they were doing things to help.
 
Thankfully for us, dad came through with flying colors.  While we started the new year off with him still in the hospital, he’s now back at home going to cardiac rehab and learning to love the taste of chicken breasts (ok, mostly). While we never wanted to be our best test users, we were glad MCE was there for us when we needed it.  We hope MCE can help your family as well.

Not Enough Time in the Day

Ahhh, there is not enough time in the day. Ever thought that, or perhaps are living that over and over? I am. Not sure how to balance family, friends, money, and time. Me too. This is starting to sound like an infomercial for Making Care Easier, but even as a founder, I forget that I can use our tool to ask for help.

It isn’t easy to ask for help. And for some of you, I suspect you are in the same position – you don’t even have time to ask for help or maybe it is easier just to do it yourself. And that may be true in some situations. But, in emergency situations, having a network you can reach out to and the system you can use saves time and lots of headaches. Instead of sending 30 emails asking who can do this or that for mom or dad, you can use Making Care Easier and our phone app too to send out one note, get someone to sign up for doing it, and get the help you need.

The pain of setting up a care team isn’t nearly as bad as suffering the pain of having not. If you have friends who are living these situations every day like we do, please encourage them to use our app. It is free to use because we lived the need. From caring for a grandmother who is 91 (and picky if you read our blogs) to a father who just had a heart attack at Christmas, we live what we preach, even if we need a reminder every now and then too that asking for help is a good thing and we hope we made it easier!

Making Care Easier Launches Free Caregiving App

Caring for an aging parent can be a full time job.  But, when you already have a job this can be very challenging.  Making Care Easier is here to help. 

Instead of lots of phone calls, texts, emails and worrying when you don’t hear anything, keep all of your updates in one place, with emergency plans and more.

Being a caregiver is a full-time job and doesn’t just happen at home.  That’s why Making Care Easier is proud to announce the launch of the MCE Android and iPhone mobile apps. 

Whether you are at home, work or at an appointment or on the run, you need to keep up-to-date when you’re caring for an elderly parent or loved one. Now you can with MCE’s free mobile app.

The MCE app lets you be in constant contact with your care team - Send and receive care updates and messages, set up and manage tasks or find and share products and services that make caregiving easier. 

Enter info once and you’re done - All the information that you share on your phone is automatically added to MCE online and vise-versa.

Share the care – At the doctor’s and need to schedule someone to take mom to her next appointment?  Use the MCE app to set up a task and ask your care team to help out.

Mom needs new slippers? – Jump on your phone and send an alert to everyone in your care team.  It might just be one less thing that you have to do because everyone knows what she needs and has an opportunity to buy it for her.

Find out more – visit us online at https://www.makingcareeasier.com/mobile to learn more or to download the apps.

And, if you want to learn more about Making Care Easier or start a care team, please go to www.makingcareeasier.com.  Being Connected for Caring is just a click away.

Making Care Easier is continually improving the ways we help make caregiving easier for you and your family.  We have lots in store for the app, and we would love to hear from you to find out what you would like to see.  Please e-mail us your suggestions to Mobile@MakingCareEasier.com and stay tuned for more advancements!