By Amanda Lukof, Special Needs Advocate
Caregiving has shaped both my family’s story and my life for as long as I can remember. My younger brother, Liam, was diagnosed with autism twenty-five years ago at the age two. Growing up, I watched as my parents navigated countless educational placements, care transitions, programs and therapies with relentless dedication. On top of that, the logistical burdens they shouldered have been overwhelming; endless documents and files, notebooks, advice, forms and explaining Liam to every new teacher, doctor, job coach, babysitter, therapist and more. My parents are constantly working to keep Liam safe, find appropriate programs and activities for him and manage their own mental and emotional bandwidth as his caregivers. It’s more than the average person can handle without the help of external support and learned tools.
As we recognize National Family Caregivers Month, it is important to acknowledge that as rewarding as caregiving may be, it is also relentless and far too often leads to burnout. The statistics paint a clear picture. According to a report by Guardian Life, 79% of caregivers experience stress, and nearly 40% feel emotionally overwhelmed. For my family, caregiving is a delicate balance of hope and anxiety, advocacy and exhaustion. This is the reason I started Eleplan and why I believe so passionately in our mission to support caregivers in a meaningful way. At Eleplan, we ease the caregiving strain by simplifying care coordination, organizing critical information and fostering a sense of security for the future.
Eleplan offers caregivers a streamlined and secure platform to document and store vital care information about their loved one. We empower families by creating a cohesive care record that can be easily accessed and shared so that transitions to new caregivers or support personnel—whether a new doctor, job coach, teacher, or babysitter—are as seamless as possible.
We are proud to directly support families by alleviating the stress and logistical burden that often comes with caregiving. Our mission is to meaningfully support the overall well-being of the roughly 53 million American family caregivers (and their care recipients) by helping to mitigate many of the factors that contribute to caregiver burnout. Below are some examples of how Eleplan can positively improve the well-being of caregivers and their loved ones.
- Streamlining Information Management: Eleplan centralizes and organizes critical care information, significantly reducing the mental burden on caregivers and allowing them to focus more on providing care – and taking care of themselves – rather than struggling with administrative tasks.
- Facilitating Communication and Coordination: Eleplan enables seamless sharing of information among family members, medical providers, and other caregivers. This improved communication reduces misunderstandings and conflicts that can contribute to caregiver stress. By promoting consistent care across different caregivers and settings, Eleplan helps alleviate the anxiety and frustration that can arise from poor coordination.
- Promoting Proactive Planning: Eleplan encourages proactive planning for future care needs, which can significantly reduce caregiver anxiety about the unknown. By allowing caregivers to prepare in advance for potential care transitions or changes in health status, the platform helps mitigate the stress associated with unexpected situations.
- Supporting Self-Care: By streamlining administrative tasks and information management, Eleplan frees up valuable time for caregivers. This additional time can be used for self-care activities, which are crucial in preventing burnout. The platform indirectly supports caregivers in maintaining their own physical and mental well-being by reducing the time spent on care management tasks.
- Providing a Sense of Control: Eleplan empowers families by giving them better control over the care process. Having organized, accessible information at their fingertips can increase caregivers’ confidence in their ability to provide quality care. This sense of empowerment and control can help reduce feelings of helplessness that often contribute to burnout.
- Facilitating Respite Care: The comprehensive information stored in Eleplan makes it easier for primary caregivers to take breaks by enabling smooth handovers to respite caregivers. This feature supports the use of respite care, which is crucial to the prevention of caregiver burnout.
Creating Eleplan has been a deeply personal mission—one I hope will ease the journey for other families like mine. Caregiving will always involve challenges, but through Eleplan, I hope we can offer families some peace of mind, clarity and more time to spend with the people they love.
In honor of National Family Caregivers Month, we are happy to offer the WEForum community 3 months of Eleplan FREE – a $45 savings! Register today with discount code WEFORUM to get started.
Amanda Lukof is a special needs advocate and the sister of a brother with autism. A lawyer by training, she spent several years practicing special education law before serving as outside counsel for UBS Financial Services Inc. In 2009 she founded Autism Speaks to Young Professionals, an event series aiming to raise awareness for the next generation of parents. She also served as the Chairperson of Special Events for Newmark Education, helping to raise $12 million for its Destination of Promise campaign, the culmination of which was a state-of-the-art building serving students K-12 in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
After leaving corporate law in 2020, Amanda has worked tirelessly as an advocate for the special needs community, with a focus on impact investing and early stage innovation. She serves as a Strategic Advisor for the Autism Impact Fund and is on the Board of Directors for the Cooke School, a special needs school in New York City. She also serves as a Board member for Multiple, a nonprofit accelerator for early stage autism innovation.
Most recently, she co-founded Eleplan, an AI-driven digital care planning tool to support family caregivers and the professionals who serve them.
