Often, the challenge with caring for a frail older person at home is orchestrating all the various tasks and responsibilities. Imagine that on your phone, you could organize, coordinate, and communicate all of it immediately with the other family members and caregivers. The calendar has a to-do list of all the tasks involved with caring for mom: meds, meals, toileting, social, outside caregivers, etc. The phone also has directions on how to do each task and where to find stuff. And imagine that the calendar is shared with others, who could be assigned tasks, and when completed, everyone knows immediately. Everyone’s phone number is there, and everyone can text one another. All her doctors, the pharmacy, all her emergency information, including her healthcare proxy and legal representative, are there. All the information is private, controlled by the primary caregiver in the family. And imagine that it is free. All it takes is about an hour or so to put the information on your phone. 30,000 people have been using it in Great Britain for over a decade. Now it’s available in the US.
With the Jointly app, caregiving can be viewed as a series of connected circles around a loved one.