A caregiver will notice things. A lamp cord frays, a bathroom door sticks, the back step rocks, a cabinet pull comes loose. Whether each of those becomes a fixed item or a week of unanswered messages depends on decisions you make before the first shift. Make them now, and write them down.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Step 1: Sort the house into three piles

  1. Caregiver handles it. Small items that need no tools beyond what you already keep in the house, such as swapping a bulb of a type you have named, or tightening a loose pull. List the items: ______________________________
  2. Family handles it. Anything that needs a ladder, a tool kit, a tradesperson, or a decision about money. Name the family member who answers for these: ______________________________
  3. Stop and call. Any smell of gas, sparking or scorching at an outlet, water where it should not be, a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm that is sounding, or a door or lock that will not secure. Write the number that goes with this pile, and keep it on the same sheet as your emergency numbers: ______________________________

The caregiver should never be the person who decides which pile a problem belongs in. The caregiver reports it. You sort it.

Step 2: Set the report path and ask who answers

Ask the provider these questions, and write down the answers word for word:

  1. How does a caregiver report a problem: in the shift note, by text, by phone, or on a form?
  2. Who receives the report on the provider side, by name or by job title?
  3. How soon should the family expect an acknowledgment, and from whom?
  4. If the caregiver cannot reach anyone, what does the caregiver do next?

Listen for a named person and a named channel. Answers such as we will let the office know, or someone will look into it, mean no one owns the report yet. Ask again until you get a name.

Report goes to: ______________________________ by this channel: ______________________________

Acknowledgment expected from: ______________________________

Step 3: Decide who pays before anything breaks

Ask three money questions and get the answers in writing:

  1. When the caregiver buys a small part or supply for a repair, does the family reimburse it, or does the provider absorb it?
  2. When a repair needs a tradesperson, is that always the family cost, or does the provider arrange and bill it?
  3. Is there any repair the provider will not handle at all, and if so, which ones?

Do not rely on your memory of a phone call. Ask the provider to put the answer in the agreement or in a short written note you both sign.

Materials paid by: ______________________________ Trade visits paid by: ______________________________

Step 4: Keep one repair log beside the shift notes

Set up a single page, or a single note on a shared device, with these columns. Fill in one line for every report, including the small ones.

Item: ______________________ What was seen: ______________________ Reported by: ______________________ Owner of the fix: ______________________ Who confirmed it works: ______________________ Closed (write the day and time): ______________________

If the same item appears on the log twice without being closed, the fix has no owner. Go back to Step 2 and name one.

Step 5: Close the loop by testing the fix

A repair is not finished when someone says it is done. It is finished when the person who uses the item has tested it. Ask the caregiver to confirm the fix at the next shift, and write the confirmation in the log. If the report went without an acknowledgment past the window you wrote in Step 2, send the provider the log line in writing and ask for the name of the person now handling it.

Signs the arrangement is not holding

  • The provider cannot name who receives a repair report, or names a person who says they never got it.
  • The same item shows up on three log entries in a row with no owner beside it.
  • You are asked to have the caregiver climb, lift heavy fixtures, or work on wiring or plumbing, when your written job description does not include that work.
  • You learn about a broken item from a visitor, a neighbor, or a bill, and not from the log.
  • The provider will not put the report path or the repair payment rule in writing. Treat that refusal as your answer.

For the wider sequence of steps before you sign, see Start Here: Five Steps to Hiring. Keep the repair log in the same folder as the agreement, so that the next person who picks up the file can see who owned each fix.