Arveda Alzheimer's Family Care, LLC
In an effort to better connect with the community and serve caregivers, Arveda retooled its web site, http://www.arvedacare.com, to include Web 2.0 features. The new site features will allow Arveda staff to more easily share helpful content and engage the community and caregivers in a conversation about how to care for those suffering with Alzheimer's or related dementia.
The site now includes links to third-party networking sites such as Facebook. "We've found that a lot of families looking for assistance are connected through Facebook. Our Arveda Facebook profile allows us to connect with these caregivers and to help them navigate the issues faced by any family trying to care for someone with Alzheimer's,"
The site also includes links to Arveda's Twitter profile and a real-time stream of the last three tweets posted by Arveda staff. "Creating a Twitter profile and including tweets on our homepage allows us to share news instantaneously with our industry and caregiver network. We try to be a resource for the Alzheimer's community and Twitter allows us to fulfill this role more effectively,"
In addition to integrating with Facebook and Twitter, the revised site includes blogging features that make it easy for Arveda staff to share information about their areas of expertise such as activities and nutrition. When posts are created, they will be tagged with subjects, which will appear on a tag cloud on the homepage. This tag cloud will visually alert users to the most talked about subjects on the site. When a subject in the tag cloud is clicked, the user will be shown all of the blog posts related to that subject.
To make staying up to date as easy as possible, the site has been enhanced with RSS feeds. Anyone visiting the site will be able to click on an RSS logo or subscribe link to get updates through their RSS reader when new posts are created. It’s now also easier than ever for users to share content with their friends or families. Arveda has added a ShareThis link to the bottom of the site so users can simply click the ShareThis link and be presented with options for emailing, posting to Twitter, etc.
Jennifer Scott shares the "why" behind the sites revisions: “We hope the community and caregivers take advantage of the site improvements, which make easier to get access to information and connect with others. We want to start and engage in the conversations. We want to share what we know and learn from others so that we’re all able to better care for those suffering from Alzheimer’s or other dementia.”
