Life with MS Whether you are the caregiver of a person with MS, ora personwith MSwho is a caregiver for someone else, you know that caregiving responsibilities can be overwhelming at times. Often, well-meaning friends and family ask “how can I help?” and you don't know how to respond with specific answers. Even if you have a specific task you need help with, staying organized and coordinating people to complete the task may be difficult. Creating a community through Lotsa Helping Hands (lotsahelpinghands.com) offers an easy, free way to solve this problem. With this website, you create a place where your community of supporters can participate in helping care fora friend orfamilymember’s needs. In addition to helping with care, supporters can just check in to stay updated on information about what is happening in the normal life of the person needing care. Events such as birthday or anniversary celebrations can even be shared. Having one easily accessible space to share information and communicate with friends and family can ease manyproblems faced bythe daunting task of being a caregiver. Start by going to lotsahelpinghands.com. From the front page, simply click on “Create a Community.” Fill in information about the community (like a name and a purpose), then create a user name and a password. Once you have created a community, make sure to complete a few basic profiles. Click on the “Me” tab and fill in all the pertinent information others will need to know about you, such as contact information and anynotes you wish to add. Then click on the “Vitals” tab to add any information about the person in need of careyouwish to sharewith the support team. (Check with the care receiver to be sure that they are okay with information being available to the community.) The next step is to invite community members. Click on the “Home” tab and choose “Invite Members.” If you have friends and familywho have expressed interest in helping and supporting the person you care for, use this feature to send them emails with an invitation to your community. (If you do not have their email addresses, you will be responsible for entering and tracking information for them, such as tasks they have agreed to complete. For example, if someone is taking the care receiver grocery shopping, but they are not community Lotsa Helping Hands By Joanne Fortunato MS-TECH 101 48 msfocusmagazine.org