Chronic Illness Care Packages

Over 100 carepackages were distributed to patients and caregivers!

Thanks for helping to make this project a reality!


(Pictured: Some of our carepackages before boxing)



When you're living with a chronic illness support isn't always something that sticks.

While acute illness or accidents like a bad case of the flu or a broken arm can have you in and out of the hospital in a few days--for some patients, hospital stays are longer and more frequent. Patients who live with chronic illnesses like:

-Crohn's Disease
-Ulcerative Colitis
-Narcolepsy
-Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome/Dysautonomia
-Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
-Rheumatoid Arthritis 
-Lupus
-COPD
-Chronic Fatigue
-Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
-Fibromyalgia
-Lyme Disease
-Reoccuring Cancer
-and a host of other common and rare disease

are constantly in and out of the hospital, having surgeries, and jumping from one bodily crisis to another. And while friends and family may offer support during the early stages--many can't keep up with the complexities of these diseases. They stop offering support and patients are left to do deal with the lonely, frightening, sometimes humiliating and often depressing  flare-ups alone.

ChronicallySmiling.com is an early-stage project that will seek to eliminate some of the challenges that chronic illness patients face. While ultimately we'll be using technology to help connect patients locally and soon hope to be able to offer financial support for medical bills--right now we're reaching out the best we can with what we've got!

By using a form on the website, visitors will be able to nominate different patients in need to recieve a care package. Patients can also nominate their parents or caregivers to recieve a care package (a great opportunity for patients to be able to "give back" even when they're not physically able to contribute.)

Care packages will be individualized depending on the patient's (or caregiver's) needs as well as the supplies the organization has on hand.

Some examples of items you might find in a care package would be:

-Toilitries not offered by the hospital (travel-sized deoderants, shampoo, room sprays, wet wipes)
-Books and magazines
-Coloring books (for children or adults) with marker, crayon or colored pencil packs
-Notebooks to journal with
-Gift cards
-Blankets, sweaters or bathrobes
-Games
-Beauty and bath products
-Headphones and earplugs
-Snacks or candy (if the patient's diet is not restricted)
-Fuzzy socks
-Bags of tea, powdered drink mixes
-Chapstick
-Sleep Masks
-Single Dollar Bills for snack machines/coffee machines
-Scarves, knit-hats, port/PICC line covers
-Nausa Sea-Bands
-Essential Oils

Each care package will also include:
-Patient Advocacy Information Packet
-Resource List of FB Support Groups
-Personalized Card (with confetti!)





Some Notes:

Care package nominees must be between the ages of 12 and 65. Patients/caregivers can only be nominated once every twelve months.

Care package nominess must have a CHRONIC illness (meaning reoccuring.)

Please do NOT donate if you are a patient who is already struggling financially. Ultimately our goal is not to seek contributions from patients themseleves, but from larger organizations and corporations who have the funds to donate.

We are grateful to take donations as little as $1! (Believe it or not, that does actually make a difference!)