Videos support the Caregiver Monday campaign

Newswise — The Caregiving Club kicks off National Sandwich Generation Month this July with recognition for its web site and especially its Me Time Monday videos created in support of the Caregiver Monday campaign.

The Caregiving Club has been honored by Caregiver Reviews for its web site content, especially its weekly video tips on caregiver self-care, the Me Time Monday℠ videos created in support of the Caregiver Monday campaign.

Caregiver Reviews analyzes online sites which help caregivers improve their quality of life and chose CaregivingClub.com as its first honored review. Michael Neuvirth of Caregiver Reviews calls Caregiving Club.com and its Me Time Monday videos, “MTV for Caregivers…the site has the best videos for caregivers we have seen and I believe Caregiving Club is pioneering how to best use video to help caregivers.”

New to the series of Me Time Monday videos are celebrities sharing their “Me Time” tips from recent red carpet galas for the Alzheimer’s Association, Nancy Davis Foundation Race to Erase MS event and Carousel of Hope gala to support diabetes research. Celebrities include: George Clooney, Holly Robinson Peete, Marg Helgenberger, Cybill Shepherd, Quincy Jones, Smokey Robinson and others.

The weekly 60- to 90-second Me Time Monday videos feature topics such as heart health, early detection tips for Alzheimer’s disease, senior driving warning signs, home safety modifications, veteran’s caregiver tips, the best super foods for good nutrition, how to de-stress and how to find your happiness factor. To honor National Sandwich Generation Month, Caregiving Club created a Me Time Monday video with its “Caregiver Bill of Rights.”

All videos are created and hosted by Caregiving Club CEO, Sherri Snelling, and are produced to support the Caregiver Monday campaign, part of a national movement to help Americans, especially the nation’s 65 million family caregivers, start and sustain the lifestyle behaviors that promote healthier living that may end chronic preventable disease. The video tips can be seen at the Caregiving Club web site (www.caregivingclub.com) or on the Caregiving Club YouTube channel.

“Recent studies show more younger caregivers are part of the Sandwich Generation – caring for children while also caring for an aging parent,” says Snelling. “The challenge for all caregivers, but particularly those juggling children, careers and caregiving, is how to avoid dropping the ball that says ‘Me.’ That is why we call our video tips Me Time Monday – a weekly reminder to take care of you while caregiving.”

“Day in and day out, millions of caregivers give so much of themselves caring for their loved ones that they often neglect their own health and well-being,” says Sid Lerner, founder & chairman, The Monday Campaigns. “Caregiver Monday encourages them to use that first day of each hectic week as their recharge day to better serve their dependent parent, child or spouse. Caregivers will find the latest tips, ideas and resources on our web site at www.caregivermonday.org to start each week with help to manage personal stress and provide practical support they can use.”

According to a 2013 Pew Research report, the 24 million Americans who are the Sandwich Generation are getting younger – 42 percent are Gen X and 33 percent are baby boomers. With 47 percent of Americans in their 40s and 50s part of the Sandwich Generation, the report also found 1 in 7 of these caregivers provide financial support to both older parents and children. In the U.S., Sandwich Generation Month is held annually in July to celebrate the dedication, patience and caring of these caregivers.

About Caregiving Club and Me Time Monday

The Me Time Monday videos and tips are part of the awareness and education effort that underscores Caregiving Club’s mission to help caregivers balance self-care while caring for a loved one. A study from the Commonwealth Fund shows family caregivers are twice as likely as the general population to develop chronic illnesses linked to the prolonged stress of being a caregiver. Caregiving Club provides consulting services to companies and creates content for a variety of media outlets. Snelling, author of A Cast of Caregivers – Celebrities Stories to Help You Prepare to Care, writes for Huffington Post, USA Today, PBS NextAvenue.org, Forbes.com and others. Visit caregivingclub.com for more information.

About Caregiver Monday

Caregiver Monday is an initiative of The Monday Campaigns, a non-profit organization in association with Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Syracuse universities. The “healthy Monday” concept is based on research by Johns Hopkins showing that Monday has special significance as the beginning of the week – a critical unit of time when planning our lives. The research indicates that more people are likely to start and stick to a new plan on Monday rather than any other day of the week – whether it’s beginning a new diet, ceasing to smoke, scheduling doctor appointments or starting a new exercise regimen. Find more information at: www.caregivermonday.org.