Top Alzheimer's Caregiving Sites - January 2001

Undying Love
by Patrick Davidson
http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/undyinglove/
1st Place - January 2001
Undying Love is the one of the most beautiful sites I've ever seen.
It was created by Patrick Davidson, a journalist, about his mother
who died of Alzheimer's. Undying Love tells the story of the toll
this disease took on his mother and the whole family through
excellent black and white photos, the wonderfully written story, and
even Real Audio throughout so we can listen as Patrick shares his
feelings. The emotions all of us know as caregivers and family
members are expressed so completely, and the beautiful way this story
is told moves me to tears, again and again, every time I visit this
wonderful site. Thank you so much to Patrick for such a moving
memorial to his mother and a place where we can go where we can say
"Yes, I feel those emotions", shed some tears, and heal.

My Journey
by Chip Gerber
Webmaster: Marsha Penington
http://www.zarcrom.com/users/alzheimers/chip.html
2nd Place - January 2001
Chip is 55, and he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1997. He worked
for over 25 years as a licensed social worker. His daily journal is
online, accented by the always beautiful designs of Webmaster Marsha
Penington of Alzheimer's Outreach. Chip's journal is unique in that
it is not just an account of what he does every day, but it is a
collection of his thoughts, feelings, and reflections on his journey
with Alzheimer's. He expresses his appreciation of and delight in
ordinary things, including his senses of smell, sight, and touch as
he cherishes nature and the changing seasons. Chip gives us a
beautiful way to look at life, in spite of our losses, as Alzheimer's
patients, caregivers, or anyone-- as each of us eventually will
suffer some losses in life. Beautifully written, Chip's "My Journey"
is a
wonderful site to visit, helping us realize and count our blessings
and to be thankful for all we have.

Alzheimer's Outreach
by Marsha Penington
http://www.zarcrom.com/users/alzheimers/
3rd Place - January 2001
A totally amazing site, one that inspires awe and wonder every time
we visit, is Marsha Penington's (aka Tay, or Taylor Austin)
Alzheimer's Outreach. Her 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 we feel
as we 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.


Alzwell
by Susan Grossman
http://www.webcom.com/~susan/welcome.html
4th Place - January 2001
Alzwell is another huge and amazing site packed full of information
and provides numerouse opportunities for others to share their
stories, to create memorials, and to express their emotions. The
"Anger Wall" is a popular place where many have released pent-up
emotions as they express their feelings about Alzheimer's. Susan's
site has been highly reviewed and received several prestigious
awards, even appearing in Yahoo's Internet Life's Touched by the Net.
Susan is also owner of the Caregiver's Ring, the first web ring that
brought together caregiving related sites. After her mother-in-law
died, Susan continued regularly updating her site and keeps people
informed about updates through her "Keepin' Up with ALZwell"
newsletter.

~~~~~

My apologies for being so late with this post. I will try to post
reviews of February's winners tomorrow, and I still need to complete
the reviews of the Top Ten for the year 2000. And as we approach
midnight on this last day of March, we will have four more winners
announced tonight; My reviews of these, as usual, will be late.
Maybe one of these days I will get caught up. ;-)

Brenda Parris Sibley
A Year to Remember http://www.zarcrom.com/users/yeartorem/
List Owner, Top Alzheimer's Caregiving Sites http:
//new.topsitelists.com/bestsites/bpsibley/topsites.html
List Owner, Top AD/Caregiving Sites Newsletter ht
tp://www.egroups.com/subscribe/TopADCaregivingSites
Contributing Writer, Themestream
http://www.themestream.com/gspd_browse/browse/view
_by_tag.gsp?auth_id=309545