Within a few days, the sisters were converted to Tyze. “It’s almost as good as being there with Dad when we get your posts,” one of them wrote. Sitting on the other side of the world, it was a powerful thing to get a note from someone who had seen your dad that morning.

The osteopath had been treating Charles for almost a year and the two had a good rapport. Tyze gave the osteopath more background on Charles. For John and his sisters, the osteopath’s observations as a professional caregiver gave them valuable insight into their father’s health. “He identified a bit of loneliness and depression,” John says, “which is something we would never have detected because that is something Dad would have shielded us from. He didn’t want us to worry.”

Within a month, Charles health grew worse. The housekeeper wrote that, “Where he was eating meat and vegetables, the fresh food now seems to be getting left in the fridge. He is eating soup and super noodles by the looks of things.” The eldest sister arrived for a visit just as their dad began a rapid decline. Circulation problems had turned into vascular dementia. The visiting sister researched dementia and posted the information to Tyze where everyone could read it.

Charles’ Tyze now included other family members and a few neighbors. For the neighbors, Tyze made it easy to offer help without feeling like you were intruding. The Tyze network had become the equivalent of a global bulletin board where care schedules and contact numbers could be accessed along with an increasingly full calendar. “With each of us coming in at different times from different countries,” John says, “the calendar helped us keep track of everything.”