For those with long-term illness

Tis a gift to give – Your friend will enjoy giving gifts to others even in the midst of a long-term illness. Suggest one of the fun WhatFriendsDo.com ideas for your friend to do for someone who has helped significantly.

Plan a dinner date – Meals brought in are an incredible help, but if your friend is able to get out, a lunch or dinner date out will be welcome. Allow your friend to pick the restaurant, but maybe you should make a few suggestions so that you "set the tone"’ for the price (you’re treating!). Offer to run a few errands along the way if your friend feels up to it.

Take it back! – Give your friend an empty bag. Yes, an empty bag. Attach a note indicating that the bag is for all the items that need to be returned to stores or dishes that need to be returned to friends who fixed a meal. You’ll save your friend lots of time and give much relief by doing this leg work.

Plan a housecleaning party – This will be such a treat. Be sure to ask your friend if it’s OK for some “elves” to show up, and specify a time. Use your WhatFriendsDo.com team page to get the “elves” organized: suggest that everyone bring some cleaning supplies so you don’t have to hunt for them. Leave a surprise or two in the house while you’re there – a fun bar of soap in the bathroom or a small vase of flowers beside a bed will bring a smile to your friend’s face.

If your friend is going through chemotherapy treatments, offer to drive him or her to treatments to give the primary caregiver some time to do other things. Take along a basket with some snacks and magazines. You might also take along some blank note cards and ask if you could write some notes on your friend’s behalf. Take along some treats for the staff at the oncology center, too. This will bring a smile to the staff and to your friend!

What were the doctor’s orders? – This health-organizing three-ring binder is designed to help people keep track of their medical papers and records. This is very important in times of medical crisis, but equally important when living with a chronic illness. The sections include medical history of family members, emergency contacts, appointments, health professionals’ business cards, referrals, questions and answers, and more. Extra binder pages are available and extra divider tabs can be customized.

Plan a yardwork day – A family with someone going through a long-term illness will probably not have time to weed the flowerbeds, trim and mow or rake leaves. Use your WhatFriendsDo.com team page to organize friends to spend an hour or two doing yardwork.

Is shopping your gift? – If your friend has children, plan a shopping trip for the kids – maybe they need school supplies, birthday gifts, new shoes. Your friend will be grateful to have help with these tasks, and probably also has some things to do that are easier to do when the children are not around.

Fix it! Tell your friend that you will arrive on a particular day at a particular time. Ask your friend to have a “honey do” list ready - all the little household things that need to be repaired (lightbulbs that need to be changed, doorknobs that need to be tightened, places that need WD-40, etc). What an awesome gift this will be!

Be my friend and walk by my side – If your friend is walking slowly these days, walk at his or her pace. It will put your friend at ease, especially if the slow pace is holding up traffic – you can even act as though YOU are the slow one and apologize for not having more pep.

Sweets things – Give your friend a small basket filled with fun candies. It will be a great "center of attention" as your friend recovers and has frequent visitors. Include some refills, too!

Change is good! – Whatever your friend’s situation is, a fun coin purse – filled of course! – will be great … for parking meters, vending machines or even those extra few cents at the grocery check-out.

Little black book – Give your friend a new address book – add your own information - name/address/phone/email … attach a note for them to add all contact info for doctors/nurses. If you have access to your friend’s email address book, print it and write the addresses into the new address book. This will become a much-used tool!

$34.95