There’s a fair amount of attention being paid to Sandwich Generation month on the Internet. And that got us thinking about how overwhelming it can be especially in times of family crisis – a parent diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, an adult child out of work and moving back home – to wade through tons of material just to be informed.

Stress resulting from information overload is the order of the day. So let us tell you about a service that has been extremely useful to us – it called Google Alerts. It’s a innovative time-saving tool that will save you hours of repeating the same topic search over and over again. You can have articles brought to your attention with little effort on your part.

What are they? Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results, whether on the web or in the news, based on your choice of query or topic – for example, Sandwiched Boomers, aging parents, empty nest, boomerang kids.

To get connected to this free service, just go to Google and search for Google Alerts. Fill out the form with your particular requests – the subject you want to monitor, the search terms, how often you want to be alerted and your email address where messages are to be sent. You will be introduced to Internet resources, both personal and academic, and your job will be to focus on the material that is most helpful to your particular circumstances. And let us know once you’ve tried it.