Caregiver Support
Better Prepared Caregivers. Better Patient Journeys.
Behind many patient journeys is someone helping manage medications, coordinate appointments, understand instructions, make decisions, and provide emotional support.
Caregiving can be rewarding, but it can also be overwhelming, especially when responsibilities are unfamiliar or change over time.
PATHS helps healthcare organizations prepare, guide, and support caregivers throughout the journey, giving them the knowledge, confidence, and resources to better care for someone they love.
The Patient Struggles When the Caregiver Struggles.
Caregivers are often expected to take on complex responsibilities with limited preparation.
They may need to understand a diagnosis, coordinate care, manage daily routines, recognize changes in a patient's condition, and know when to ask for help.
At the same time, they're managing their own lives, emotions, and well-being.
When caregivers don't have the support they need, it can become harder to provide consistent care.
Supporting the caregiver is part of supporting the patient.
A patient and caregiver may share the same care plan, but they experience it differently. The patient is learning, acting, adjusting, and progressing through care. The caregiver is preparing, supporting, adapting, and managing their own well-being. These are distinct but interconnected journeys. Supporting one helps support the other.
From Feeling Overwhelmed to Feeling Capable.
Caregivers need more than information. They need the confidence and ability to put that information into practice.
PATHS helps healthcare organizations guide caregivers through manageable Steps, reinforce important knowledge, and assess understanding along the way.
As caregivers build knowledge and develop practical skills, they can become better prepared to make decisions, recognize when help is needed, and participate in the care process.
Care teams can also gain visibility into caregiver engagement and demonstrated understanding, creating opportunities to offer support where it's needed most.
Knowledge builds confidence. Confidence supports action. Action creates agency.
Spotlight
Our Founder Was a Caregiver.
Before founding PATHS, Kermit Farmer was a caregiver for his wife, Dr. Linda Farmer, an oncologist who dedicated her life to caring for others.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Linda was battling gastric cancer. Following surgery, she faced difficult wound care needs, with limited outside support.
That experience shaped Kermit's understanding of the caregiver journey and his determination to help others feel better prepared, supported, and capable.
In Kermit's words:
“There were times I felt powerless, even hopeless.
I loved her with everything, yet I often felt inadequate to give her the care she needed. I felt I wasn’t enough. We were in the middle of COVID. Help was limited, and managing her needs after surgery was incredibly difficult.
It affected my health. My weight ballooned to 293 pounds. It affected my sleep. My emotions. And I knew it affected her, too. But I felt I had to keep it all together.
I didn’t lack commitment. I lacked the tools, resources, and sense of agency to do everything I needed to do for her.
Second-guessing yourself while providing life-sustaining care you’re not trained to deliver, from administering TPN to managing complex wounds, is something I will never forget. Her wound never healed. Nor will my heart.
But something meaningful can come from that experience.
The next caregiver can be better prepared than the one before, and the one before that. I want them to have the knowledge, support, and confidence to make a difference, and to know when what they're doing is working.
That’s my quest.”
Kermit Farmer | Founder, PATHS
Support Caregivers. Learn From Their Experience.
Healthcare organizations often have limited visibility into whether caregivers understand their responsibilities, feel prepared, or are engaging with the resources provided.
PATHS helps make that experience more visible.
Through engagement records, assessments, surveys, and progress tracking, care teams can better understand how caregivers interact with guidance, where knowledge gaps may exist, and when additional support could be useful.
Organizations can use those insights to improve caregiver resources, refine workflows, and evaluate support initiatives over time.
When caregivers can see their progress and care teams can understand their needs, there is more opportunity to build on what works.
Better Prepared Caregivers Help Close Gaps in Care.
Caregivers are essential partners in many patient journeys. Yet gaps in knowledge, preparation, resources, and support can make their responsibilities more difficult.
PATHS helps healthcare organizations identify where caregivers may need additional guidance, support their well-being, and strengthen their ability to participate in care. Every caregiver journey offers an opportunity to learn what works and better prepare the next.
Start with one caregiver journey. Learn what works. Build from there.