Sheet 07 · The first 72 hours

What happens on the first day a caregiver comes to the house

Published September 10, 2026. Desk byline, no clinician. Every fact links to its source.

You said yes. Someone is coming to the house in Chesterfield, Eureka, Pacific, or Glencoe at nine in the morning, and you are standing in the kitchen trying to work out what happens on the first day a caregiver comes to the house. This sheet is the first three days: who should be there, what goes on the fridge, what a non-medical caregiver actually does during a shift, what you ask at the end of shift one, and the one-line log that tells you by hour 72 whether it is working when you are not there.

Who should be in the house for the first visit

You. Or the sibling who actually knows where the extra towels live. Family Caregiver Alliance says it will be important, at first, to be present to help the attendant and the care receiver establish a successful relationship, and to show the attendant how you do things so the help feels familiar. If your parent lives alone and has already said they do not want a stranger in the house, your being there for the first shift is not optional. It is the handoff.

If a company already walked the house, that visit is not the first shift. The first shift is the person who will actually be there. Family Caregiver Alliance says a written care plan outlines the paid caregiver’s duties, and that a written schedule is useful, and essential if more than one caregiver is coming. Print it. Tape it.

What does a non-medical caregiver actually do during a shift?

Write the list from the National Institute on Aging, then circle what applies in this house. NIA says older adults may need help with personal care, meaning everyday activities such as bathing, dressing, grooming, using the toilet, eating, and moving around, for example getting out of bed and into a chair. The same page lists household chores, grocery help, laundry, and transportation to the doctor’s office and other places in the community. Some people, especially people who live alone, simply need someone to check on them.

NIA’s getting-started list is the same job: personal care, household tasks, preparing food, transportation such as car rides to appointments. A non-medical caregiver does those things as presence in the house, not as a nurse visit. They can prompt that it is time to take the tablets already in the labeled box. They do not decide which tablets those should be, diagnose, treat, or change a dose. Nursing tasks belong with home health or the physician. Write that on the fridge so nobody improvises.

Driving to appointments is a question, not an assumption. NIA notes that transportation services can drive people to and from medical appointments. Ask before shift one whether this caregiver may use your car, their car, or a company car, and write the answer on the sheet.

The one-page fridge sheet

One page. Large type. Taped where the phone lives. It is not a health record and it does not go into any form on this site. It is a handoff so the person in the house is not guessing.

• The daily order: wake, breakfast, bath or shower, lunch, rest, dinner, bedtime. Times as they actually happen, not as you wish they happened.
• Where things are: towels, the extra walker, the spare key, the thermostat, the dog food.
• Phone numbers: you, one other family member, the doctor’s office, the pharmacy, 911. The doctor’s number is for you or for a true emergency, not for the caregiver to interpret a symptom.
• The labeled pill box: “Remind at breakfast and bedtime. Do not decide what goes in the box.”
• Food: what they will eat, what they will not, who shops.
• The dog, the cat, smoking rules, the television that stays on, the chair they will not leave.
• What to do if they will not get out of bed, stated as a call to you, not as a diagnosis.

Family Caregiver Alliance calls the notebook in the house essential if the care receiver has dementia, and says caregivers can communicate with each other and with you about how the plan is working. Use a paper notebook or the log at the bottom of this page. The notebook does not replace talking to the worker. FCA says that out loud: check in personally.

What to ask at the end of shift one

Sit down for five minutes before they leave. You are not grading them. You are filling the log.

1. What did you actually do, in order?
2. What did they eat and drink?
3. How did the bath or the dressing go?
4. Did they walk, and did they need a hand?
5. Was anything in the house not where the sheet said?
6. Is there a task on the sheet you are not comfortable doing? Write it down. Do not argue it at the door.
7. Who do you call if you cannot come tomorrow?

FCA’s test for whether you hired well is not a star rating. It is whether the person can make a connection, or if they cannot, whether they still work with gentleness and respect; whether tasks that involve health or safety were demonstrated and shown back; whether they know how and when to call 911; and whether coverage for an absence is clear. By day three you will have three lines in the log. That is enough to see a pattern. FCA says it takes two or three weeks to determine if your loved one, the home care worker, and you are a good match. Day one is not a verdict. It is the first data point.

How do I know if the caregiver is doing a good job when I am not there?

You will not know from a feeling. You will know from the log, from a drop-in, and from whether the house looks like the routine ran. FCA’s advice is to sometimes be at the house doing odd jobs while the paid caregiver is there, so you can see and hear how they interact. If you live in Eureka and work downtown, that may be Saturday morning, not Tuesday at 10. Put it on the calendar anyway.

NIA’s caregiving FAQ says an older adult might need help with household chores, preparing meals, getting dressed, or going to the bathroom, and that while you may be able to help with some tasks, you might want to hire professionals to assist with others. The job when you are not there is those tasks, done the way the fridge sheet says, with a line in the log so the next person is not starting from zero. If the log is blank after three shifts, that is information. If the log is full of arguments, that is information. If the log is boring, that is often the good outcome.

Shift	Who was there	What got done	What to tell the next person	Your note
Day 1, morning
Day 1, evening or overnight
Day 2, morning
Day 2, evening or overnight
Day 3, morning
Day 3, evening or overnight

Print this page. The write-in lines survive. After day three, read the six rows out loud to yourself. Then decide whether to keep the plan, change the duties, or ask for a different person. That last step is the next sheet.

Sources opened 10 September 2026. Full list on the sources page.