During life events, such as illness, birth, accident, and death, we often hear "how can I help?" from friends and loved ones. People want to help, but don't know how, when, or where - or what's most needed. And no one wants to intrude.
How can I help?
ARC offers a tool that builds a private online community around loved ones who want to stay in the loop and want to help. The tool, called Careopolis, has shown to not only provide help with errands and meals, but helps strengthen outlook and relieves anxiety. It can enhance outcomes by enabling loved ones to become (and remain) naturally connected.
ARC has offered the Careopolis tool to patients for over three years now. In that time, over 4,500 ARC Careopolis sites have been created, reaching over 113,000 people! When asked for feedback, we found that, among other positive outcomes, 25% of the respondents say that they feel their Careopolis site has made friends and loved ones more empathetic and 21% say that they feel their Careopolis site has enhanced optimism and resilience.
What can a Careopolis page do?
- Calendar: Coordinate meals, help with appointments, and other tasks and even social activities through the iHelp Calendar.
- Sharing stories: Build community through the social storytelling tool. through the photos and in the voices of those loved ones.
- Keep loved ones updated: Provide health or status updates to family and friends.
- Communication: Receive both private and publicly available messages.
- Share photos and memories.
- Blog: Each Careopolis has its own Blog - not only for updates, well-wishes and discussions - but also for meaningful, in-depth, sustained dialogues that create huge healing power.
- Health information: World-class 3D healthcare animations and other understandable content helps everyone get up to speed on what's going on.
How to set up a Careopolis page?
Create this online community through a website called CareFlash. Log into CareFlash at careflash.com/arc to start your Careopolis web page. Just click on "Create a Careopolis" and follow the prompts.
It is free and private, no one can see it without your express invitation and consent.
This simple act of creating a Careopolis page can create a community around a person and a life event, pulling everyone together in a meaningful way that is shown to improve the quality of life of the person at the heart of the page, as well as all those participating.