WHYY’s Caring Community

Ana Mulero chronicles her experiences as a caregiver for her mother in the WHYY original TV series Circle of Love "Caring for an Aging Parent."
	Watch teenagers in Swarthmore, Pa., helping seniors with household chores.

Now in its fourth year, WHYY’s Caring Community is a volunteer coalition comprised of more than 100 organizations -- academic institutions, nonprofit and government agencies, faith-based organizations and healthcare systems in the region. Caring Community provides a much-needed forum for professionals and the public to explore issues related to end-of-life care and chronic illness, with special attention to caregivers. Coalition members engage the community by defining community needs and outcomes, contributing to programming content for television, radio and the Web, identifying resources and promoting WHYY programming. WHYY provides the partnership access to innovative technology that allows greater numbers of people the opportunity to participate and share experiences in creative ways.

Among the initiatives under Caring Community's umbrella are the Hospice Veterans Partnership for Delaware Valley and Eastern Pennsylvania, the Delaware End-of-Life Coalition, and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia's PhillyHealthInfo, a pilot for connecting residents of local neighborhoods in Philadelphia with an Internet-based, regional health information system.

Panelists at the "Town Meeting: Alzheimer's Disease" included (l to r) Ana Mulero, Florence Collins and Carol Francis, who were all featured in the WHYY original TV series Circle of Love.

Wider Horizons, along with its Caring Community coalition and the Alzheimer's Association, Delaware Valley Chapter, hosted a town meeting for family caregivers to ask questions of an expert panel and share their concerns. The meeting was webcast live and archived on the web. The Fourth Annual Wider Horizons Forum provided professionals and community members an arena in which to learn about the gradual and final losses experienced by those living with Alzheimer's, the stressful facets of caregiving and helpful strategies. The all-day forum included the Hospice Foundation of America's Annual "Living with Grief Teleconference." Wider Horizons also offered a series of Web conversations as another way to connect those living the experience of caregiving with experts from a variety of disciplines.

WHYY’s Caring Community has become a true regional resource -- providing referrals to experts on a range of topics. Its groundbreaking partnership with WHYY serves as a model for community alliances.