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Caringbridge Keeps Families ConnectedA web site designed to help patients keep in touch with loved ones during treatment is getting high marks from users. At www.caringbridge.org patients can create their own web page free of charge. News about the patient's progress can be posted to the web page periodically so that family members and friends can know what's happening. Those who visit the patient's web page can also leave messages of encouragement and hope in the "guest book." "It was extremely easy to set up and didn't require lots of computer experience or technical skills," says Helen Krieger, who set up a web page for a family member. In fact, says Caringbridge Executive Director Sona Mehring, it only takes five minutes to create your page. Since the service was first offered in 1997, more than 8,000 patients have set up personal web pages through Caringbridge and more than a million visitors have left messages of encouragement, says Mehring. Forty-two-year-old Roberta Miller set up a Caringbridge web page before she had an autologous stem cell transplant for lymphoma in 2001. "My family is flung all over the US and I knew I needed an easy way to communicate my condition. The guest book messages people left me were so incredible. There were some days during 'quarantine' when those encouraging words were the only things that got me through the next pill or shot." Caringbridge also gives patients and their caregivers an outlet to record their experience and feelings, says Susan Colletti, whose husband Andrew was transplanted for leukemia in July 2002. "He is a gifted writer and I know this web site was healing for him in so many ways." Those who have access to a digital camera can upload photos to their web page, says Mehring. "We can't scan the photos for them but people without digital cameras can have regular prints converted to digital format at a photo shop," she says. The idea for Caringbridge grew out of Mehring's personal experience when she tried to help a close friend communicate with relatives on two continents about a difficult pregnancy. "Her condition changed hour by hour and it was the only way to keep everyone informed," recalls Mehring. "Later, we realized how valuable the web page had been and decided to create the same opportunity for others." Caringbridge is a not-for-profit organization funded by donations from hospitals and individuals and staffed by a small group of volunteers. To learn more about this valuable service visit www.caringbridge.org.
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