If we would ask you to rate your own life, what grade would it get? Most likely, the number you arrive at lies somewhere in between a six and a nine – most people in developed countries rate their lives as such. In the Netherlands, the average is as high as a 7,6! However: there seems to be one big, alarming exception. Recent research has found that among informal caregivers, as much as twelve percent of people rate their life using a number below five. That is three times as much as the percentage of people that feel that way among the population at large! The reasons given for their unhappiness have to do with high costs, confusing regulations and above all: the arduous workload. In short: it’s time for change.
The six interest groups who funded the research have expressed their grave worries in a public statement, and spoke of a ‘wake-up call for politicians’. They also emphasize that there is a large group of informal caregivers who áre happy and derive a lot of satisfaction from their caregiving work – but their happiness is strongly dependent on the workload not increasing even more (or even decreasing, preferably). When we take into consideration that the ageing of society has really only just begun, however, we must acknowledge that this is not very likely going to happen by itself.
Although we agree with interest group Mezzo that this is an important matter for our political leaders to look into, we think that solutions can also be found on a more individual basis. In fact, this is the viewpoint that has motivated us to develop our GoLivePhone® app – and especially the GoLiveAssist®: a service that has been developed especially for (informal) caregivers. Our model of prevention, early indication and remote care saves a lot of unnecessary time, money and above all human suffering.
Because by using technology to connect users to their (informal) caregivers, both sides of the caring relationship can start to experience the peace of mind that comes from knowing that whenever something is up, assistance is just one push of a button away. And in addition, caregivers can remotely manage diaries & medication schedules, and easily acces all kinds of information about a users’ location and well-being.
In this way, our GoLiveAssist® provides solutions to almost all of the problems described by informal caregivers! And it does all this for a fraction of today’s costs, without any kind of catch. Which, we believe, is exactly how it should be – because caring for each other is one of the most beautiful things in life; something that should never ever be allowed to turn into a burden.
