Learning about Share the Care—the program aimed at helping create caregiver teams that improve the well-being of both the care recipient and caregivers—I couldn't help but think about the end-credits for the movie The Great Escape. As the actors' names roll by, their characters aren't identified so much by name as by their role on the escape team.

The same is true when creating a Share the Care team. You need the Team Leader, the Assistant Coordinator, the Researcher, the Arranger, the Experienced Caregiver, the Chief Cook and Bottlewasher, the Creative Type, the One with a Special Skill, the Shopper, the Handyman, the Driver...the list goes on. And when all work in a coordinated effort, the result is stress-reduced caregiving.

Share the Care was born out of Cappy Capossela's and Sheila Warnock's desire to care for their terminally ill friend—and furthered by Warnock's efforts to later care for the terminally ill Capossela. As outlined in their book, Share the Care: How to Organize a Group to Care for Someone Who Is Seriously Ill (Fireside, 2004; $14), it's a model for creating and coordinating teams of family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and acquaintances. With exercises at each chapter's end, it provides lists of jobs to fill and details to follow up on, out-of-the-box ideas for finding team members, and teaches you what to say and how to say it. But most of all, it gets people who might otherwise not have been involved to contribute, and aids those who thought the complete burden was on them.

As Share the Care points out, "People who are close to the sick person (and have probably been doing too much) will be relieved to hear about the group. People who are casual acquaintances (and are wondering what they could do) will be glad for the opportunity."

The program can be started by an immediate family member or an outside interested party, though the book suggests the proper way to present the plan to the care recipient's relatives if the group's being started by a non-family member: "Call the biological family after you have a leader and a coordinator and at least five people committed to coming to the [preliminary] meeting. When you call...it is important that you tell the real family that this group is in no way replacing them. Assure them that the group will in no way interfere with or limit their time with their loved one, but will instead make it easier for them to just be together and not have to worry about logistics."

How you present the idea to those whom you're recruiting could require finesse if they don't know you. Having gotten the names with the care recipient's permission and assistance in going through personal phonebooks and e-mail address lists, call each potential recruit. "Start out by saying that the person who is ill suggested you call, and that you are also a friend," Share the Care instructs. "Ask if this is a good time to talk, and if not, arrange a time to call back. Tell the person...a little about what is going on with the person who is ill. Then say that you are having a meeting to form a group, and explain briefly what it is about." Also, direct them to www.sharethecare.org, where they can read about the system prior to the initial meeting.

This is how you start. Conducting meetings, rotating command positions, dealing with hospital stays and doctor visits, food provision, medication compliance, home maintenance, business management—and, of course, just keeping the patient company—is still to follow. Share the Care plots the course for you and your team. Give it a try.