Have you heard of The Caring Band app? I had never heard of it either until my friend Lindsay (who I realized afterwards attended the same church as me) reached out to see if I’d be interested in learning more about it! Read on for more info and see if it is something you could use with a loved one!
I’m a seven on the Enneagram. (I know you’re probably already wondering what in the heck that has to do with this post – but bear with me!). One of the things that being a seven means, to me anyways, is that I have a really hard time dealing with the hard, deep, “feel-y” emotions of life. I like to live on the high, happy side of things, so when sadness comes, I tend to hide from it behind something fun, like a rainbow colored snow-cone stand that sells unicorn colored treats or something.
(If you want to know more about the Enneagram, click here, but only if you promise to come back here and finish this post!)
But the reality of life is that hard times will come, bad stuff will happen, and the people I love will go through things that are trying, frustrating, and difficult. And I will have to step up and be there with them through things. Sometimes that means long, tear-filled conversations, sometimes it means bringing a meal, sometimes it means hospital visits.
The Caring Band App & Bracelet
Long conversations and food I can absolutely do. But, if I can be honest, and I can because this is my space after all, I hate the hospital. I hate it with a burning, fire-like passion. The hospital is where sick people go to die, and nothing happy or exciting can ever happen there. Yes, yes, I realize that I’m being ultra-dramatic, but you can ask my bonus mom – I didn’t even want to be in the hospital when I had Jett because it bummed me out so much. Nursing homes? I feel the same way. No. Thank. You.
Now, that is where the Caring Band app & bracelet come in. I had the opportunity to sit down with the founder and creator of the app, Lindsay Donaldson, recently and learn all about it. The app itself is incredible, and the new bracelet that goes with it is brilliant. Let me share a little about it.
The idea behind the Caring Band app (with or without the bracelet) is to help be with and support the people you love who might be going through a medical emergency or long bouts of treatment, homebound, or honestly just having a hard time. You download the app and create an account, and you can add friends to it (they also have to have the app on their phone as well). And any time of the day (or night, if you’re a night owl) you can ping them with one of several pre-written messages just to let them know that you’re thinking of them or praying for them!
Download the app on Itunes or Google Play
The messages are short and sweet, and most importantly, they do not require an immediate response. In fact, it won’t let them respond to it at all within the app. It is just a sweet, simple notification that reminds them that whatever they are going through, it is not in solitude.
The bracelet is an extension of the app itself. Through a bluetooth connection to your phone, it connects to The Caring App and every time you get a notification on the app, your bracelet lights up. It is a visual reminder that your friends and family are thinking of you, praying for you, sending you sweet thoughts and loving you, no matter how near or far they might be from you.
For someone like me, who truly dreads going to the hospital and doesn’t really know how to be there for someone emotionally on a regular basis like that (or rather, is starting to learn more about that), this app and the wearable are kind of a life changer for me.
I do think about people often, but rarely does that quick though turn into a phone call, a text, or sometimes even a quick prayer. But if I can pick up my phone and send them a quick nudge through this app and remind them that I’m thinking of them, it shows them that I do care and think of them!
Another reason I really love this idea, app, and product, is that let’s all just be honest here, our lives are BU-SY. And we glorify that busy by adding thing on top of thing on top of thing, so that even if we DO enjoy going to the hospital to visit people, sometimes it is just not possible. Having the capability of touching base with people in such a short, sweet, but still meaningful way is amazing!
When we moved to The Woodlands four years ago, one of the first families we met in our neighborhood had a daughter that was in the midst of fighting Ewing’s Sarcoma, a really nasty bone cancer that occurs in children. She ended up having a major surgery called a rotationplasty to her leg and eventually beat the cancer and is living a full, awesome life.
Whenever I think of this app and the bracelet, it makes me wish I had known about it a few years ago because it could have been an awesome blessing to this young lady while she was spending hours and hours in the hospital getting chemotherapy and recovering from surgery. Her family and friends could have flooded her with messages and kept her spirits up during a really hard time in her life, and their busy schedules and *cough* hatred of the hospital *cough* would not have prevented them being a part of her epic recovery.
If you’re interested in learning more about The Caring Band app and the bracelet, watch the video below or check out their website. The bracelet is coming out of the trial phase and will be available soon to order, but in the meantime, download the app and give it a try! You can also learn more and hear the story behind The Caring Band in the video below!
