The Patterson Foundation Partners with Share the Care on Caregiver Connect Initiative

The Patterson Foundation has partnered with Share the Care, a central Florida-based nonprofit providing services and support to caregivers. Share the Care has developed an online platform that connects caregivers with the information and resources they need, when they need it. The platform will be piloted in Sarasota. The goal is to learn and share through this pilot to help the tool become a sustainable and thrivable model for other communities.

The Caregiver Connect Initiative, formerly the Dementia Initiative, evolved as The Patterson Foundation explored the challenges and gaps that exist as people move through the continuum of being diagnosed with a debilitating disease or disorder.

Often, caregivers are unaware of the resources their own backyards, and many may waste precious time and effort searching for information in the wrong places. Through the Caregiver Connect Initiative, The Patterson Foundation has identified gaps in the availability and quality of information at local and national levels and recognizes that many caregivers are not cognizant that they are filling the role of a caregiver. Share the Care’s online tool, called Caregiver Central, will not only help individuals identify their caregiver status, but will also provide a needed database of relevant, current information that caregivers can use in their search for resources.

The pilot of the Caregiver Central tool in Sarasota will help Share the Care create a business model allowing free online access to concentrated, valuable information for caregivers, with the possibility for sustainability through a network of “preferred providers,” which is made up of existing community assets.

The Caregiver Connect Initiative aligns with TPF’s goals to collaborate, connect, innovate and transform while learning and sharing. To learn more about Share the Care, please visit: www.helpforcaregivers.com. Follow the Caregiver Connect journey through the initiative blog: caregiver.thepattersonfoundation.org/