Millions of Alzheimer's Caregivers Use the Internet and The Fear of Failure

I recently learned that 55 percent of Alzheimer's caregivers are "Internet savvy". I was surprised. That makes the universe of Alzheimer's caregivers on the Internet much larger than I had imagined....

By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room

As we head to the end of the year, and the beginning of a New Year, I am trying to formalize a plan for the Alzheimer's Reading Room.

At the beginning of 2010, I had a plan. I now realize I was not overly ambitious. I guess you could say I was afraid to "dream big". I just didn't know enough about the Internet and enough about Alzheimer's caregivers to think big.

I'm not complaining. Together we exceeded every goal I had in mind at the beginning of 2010. In fact, we grew faster and bigger than I imagined or forecast.


Now we are headed for a new year together. Here is what I am thinking. I need help. In order to make the Alzheimer's Reading Room grow, I need help.

I recently learned that 55 percent of Alzheimer's caregivers are "Internet savvy". I was surprised. That makes the universe of Alzheimer's caregivers on the Internet much bigger than I had imagined. After learning this new statistic, I was immediately filled with a sense of urgency.

The question: how to bring the Alzheimer's Reading Room into the "direct" awareness of every Alzheimer's caregivers that is currently using the Internet?

Where are the Alzheimer's caregivers? How can we find them? How can we bring the Alzheimer's Reading Room into their awareness?

I am getting filled up with a strong desire to figure out how to find them and bring them to our growing Alzheimer's community.

I know I can't do it alone. I know how difficult it can be to organize any group and to get them to take action.

I am sitting here wondering how I can convince the readers of this blog to devote five to ten minutes a month to help me achieve the "bigger" goal that is now starting to float around in my head.

I'm sitting here thinking -- failure. What if we fail and the effort falls flat on its face?

On the other hand, what do we accomplish if we succeed?

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Bob DeMarco is the Founder of the Alzheimer's Reading Room and an Alzheimer's caregiver. The blog contains more than 2,201 articles with more than 272,100 links on the Internet. Bob resides in Delray Beach, FL.

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Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room