About eHope | The eHope Story

OUR VISION:

Our vision for community is one where individuals love and care for their neighbors, and a meaningful, lasting sense of connectedness is fueled by the compassionate care that members of our community instinctively extend to one another.

Our vision is that the eHope Foundation will expand by partnering regionally with groups of people and organizations who express a sincere interest and ability to identify local leadership to connect local people into caring communities.

OUR MISSION :

To form caregiving communities which provide non-medical physical, social, emotional and spiritual support, for a loved one who faces a life-threatening illness.

OUR VALUES:

1. To operate with the belief that no person— regardless of color, gender, nationality, religious faith or lack of religious faith, sexual preference, political ideology, or struggles with addiction or crime— is unwelcome.
   
   
   
2. To promote relational, community-based care, where teams of individuals work together to provide care in a complementary fashion.
   
   
   
3. To encourage a full range of community involvement within groups, including family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers.
   
   
   
4. To advocate for a healthy balance in the lives of individual caregivers.
   
   
   
5. To embody a principle of non-abandonment, where no individual or group is left behind, providing service to families for as long as care is needed.
   
   
   
6. To care for the members of our organization in the same manner that we facilitate care in our eHope communities.
   

Who does eHope serve?

1. Families in need of caregivers -
   This includes families who are caring for a loved one with a life-threatening illness with little or no help where the stress level being placed on primary caregiver(s) is unhealthy.
   
   
   
2. Families with lots of caregivers -
   eHope's assists families by streamlining the flow of communication between an established group of caregivers. Using web-based technology, eHope acts in the role of gatekeeper for the family and care recipient by ensuring that needs are clearly and continuously communicated and that care is provided where the family needs care.
   

"Care" defined:

At eHope, care is defined as non-medical / non-clinical support that you would provide if a friend asked you for help. This includes background jobs like running errands or mowing the lawn, as well as direct support including providing respite for primary caregivers or assisting with transporting patients in and around the home. Each individual caregiver helps out at their own comfort level.

eHope offers no counseling or medical services. We do however refer families to a range of service providers in our local community.

What is a "caregiving community"?

A caregiving community is the collection of people ("peeps") who you are in close relationship with. This group is comprised of family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors. Ideally they are peeps who would go the extra mile to help you out in a time of need and that you would do the same for them.

The benefit of caring as an integrated team is 3 fold:

1. The care recipient receives individualized care from people they know.
   
   
   
   
2. No single person needs to take on too much. Peeps engage as they are able, and through the web, clearly know what needs to be done at any given time.
   
   
   
   
3. The members of the community build relationships amoungst themselves, which in turn strengthens and unifies the collective caregiving effort and maximizes the quality of life for the care recipient and their primary caregiver(s).

What type(s) of support does a caregiving community provide?

eHope caregiving communities attempt to remove some of the background noise tasks which compete for time available in the lives of a family caring for a loved one with a life-threatening illness. This includes the day-to-day tasks which stand in the way of our attempt to focus on wellness and strengthening our relationships.

Non-medical physical assistance refers to a wide range of activities which include:

1. Running errands.
   
   
   
2. Helping out with yard work or housekeeping.
   
   
   
3. Preparing a meal.
   
   
   
4. Doing the grocery shopping.
   
   
   
5. Providing a ride to or from doctor's appointments.
   
   
   
6. Walking the dog.
   
   
   
7. Providing in-home companionship and respite time for primary caregivers..
   
   
   
8. Assisting the family with transferring the care recipient in and around the home.

Social and emotional support refers to the non-tangible things that human beings provide one another simply by being in meaningful relationship with one another. Care of the soul is as important as care for our physical being. Spirit and hope are natural byproducts of authentic community. Together these two emotions feed the soul and are integral components of human life.

What is eHope's role in the caregiving community?

eHope provides a trained facilitator who conducts the initial meeting which establishes the caregiving community, communicates the eHope caregiving model to the circle of caregivers, streamlines the flow of daily communication between the care recipient's family and the caregiver community, and remains with the group for the entire life of the group.

What is a "life-threatening illness"?

At eHope, we define life-threatening illness as any diagnosis that you receive today which renders all of the worldly stuff that you were chasing yesterday (wealth, prestige, career, knowledge etc.) as meaningless. Simply put, it's a level of illness which stops you in your tracks and reaffirms the fundamental importance of the relationships in your life.