TEN MINUTES WITH...SONA MEHRING
The founder of CaringBridge really knows how to help people stay connected during a a health crisis
BY:SCOTT BARWICK
Caring Today: Explain to our readers what CaringBridge is.
Sona Mehring: It's a free online service [at www.caringbridge.org ] that helps patients and caregivers stay connected to friends and family. We help them create their own private website so they can stay in touch with one another.
CT: How did this come about?
SM: Eleven years ago, two very good friends had a very premature baby, and they asked me to let everybody know what was going on. Instead of making all those tough phone calls, I thought: I'm going to create a website. In fact, the same night their baby was born, that first CaringBridge website was "born." It really brought everybody together when they needed it most.
CT: What has been your biggest obstacle?
SM: Just letting people know about it. It's not an open social network-it's very personal and unique to every situation. So, it grows primarily by personal recommendations.
CT: How are you able to provide CaringBridge free of charge?
SM: We're a charitable organization. We don't have ads. We really rely on contributions: 90% of our revenue comes from people who have used us.
CT: More than 140,000 individual sites have been created-currently at the rate of one every eight minutes. Did you ever think it would grow so large?
SM: After that very first experience, I knew it could be extremely useful for dealing with any type of health event-childhood diseases, cancer treatment, heart surgery, injuries. I knew that the internet was going to connect the world for years to come, and I thought people would embrace technology to stay connected.
CT: Privacy is important to the site but I noticed a lot of people want to share their experiences.
SM: The patient and caregiver really have full control over how public or private they want their site. Many people want them to be a bit more public, however CaringBridge sites are blocked from search engines. But most are really content reaching out to their families and friends. Over 90% of our websites are just that.
CT: What has been the response from caregivers?
SM: Just phenomenal. Responses from patients, caregivers, friends and families are really what fuels us everyday. Caregivers, in particular, talk about how this was one of the most important things they had while helping their loved ones through their diagnosis, treatment and recovery. So many caregivers say it was a godsend to instantly tell people what was going on, instantly get messages of love and support back, and be able to communicate these messages.
HOW DOES CARINGBRIDGE HELP?
Loved ones-and patients-say that a personal website with CaringBridge keeps them better connected as well as emotionally fortified during stressful situations. They've used it to keep people informed during illness, hospitalization, military duty-even the through the process of adoption. The service is free, available worldwide and requires no special software.
To stay connected, you can:
- Use CaringBridge's easy-to-use templates to write a daily or weekly journal that readers can access.
- Establish a guestbook, so friends and family can send messages to a patient.
- Create a personal photo page.
Your website will only be available to those friends and family who've been given its unique name. For more privacy, you can require visitors to register or use a password.
Got a glitch? CaringBridge's helpful customer service will be to the rescue within 24 hours.