Remembering Online: Home Pages of Alzheimer's Caregivers, Part 2
Though there were just a few in the earlier years of the Internet, since 1997 personal pages about Alzheimer's and caregiving have multiplied so fast it's difficult to keep up with them. But I want to cover in this article a few of the most outstanding ones I've visited.
Alzheimer's Outreach by Marsha Penington (aka Tay, or Taylor Austin) at http://www.zarcrom.com/users/alzheimers/ is a totally amazing site. Marsha's informational directories on Alzheimer's, other dementias, and caregiving issues includes around 250 full-text documents. There is a poetry gallery full of poetry by Steven Stoker, Jerry Ham, Brenda Race, and Dorothy Womack, and Marsha has provided Web space for the various works of other caregivers and Alzheimer's patients throughout her site. At the Alzheimer's Outreach site, family caregivers and patients alike have shared their photos, memories, memorials, thoughts, and the list goes on and on. There is so much this site offers, it's difficult to even begin to describe it all. Marsha's own story of her mother's Alzheimer's, along with beautifully designed backgrounds and graphics by Marsha herself, add a personal touch and intensify the sense of awe I feel as I visit this wonderful site. Futhermore, Alzheimer's Outreach is also the large and very active local community service/support group that is coordinated by Marsha in the area where she lives. Locally through this group and around the world via the Internet, Marsha's Alzheimer's Outreach is for so many an excellent source of information and support at all stages of the Alzheimer's caregiving journey.
Passage into Paradise by Dorothy Womack is another amazing site which can be found at http://www.geocities.com/womack47/passag... . Dorothy's book, Passage into Paradise, is her caregiving journal kept during her time as caregiver for her mother. It is a huge book-- around 200 pages printed out, presented as 25 pages online-- but it is one that the reader will "not want to put down" until finished. Dorothy has given us not only her mother's journey with Alzheimer's, but also the thoughts, feelings, doubts, and pain of a caregiver-- even one who is a woman of great faith. Dorothy's moving poetry and beautiful photos of her mother are also included, and soft nature and angel backgrounds help make the book a pleasure to read. Passage into Paradise has been awarded the Alzheimer's Site of the Week at About.com, was a Suite101 Featured Online Book, and was the 2nd Place winner for the year 2000 at Top Alzheimer's/Caregiving Sites. Dorothy is a writer for Today's Caregiver (Caregiver.com), Empowering Caregivers, and her poems and articles are featured at several other Web sites, including Alzheimer's Outreach, A Year to Remember, and Poetry.com.
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