A written plan only works if the person reading it can follow it. This page covers the language question you should settle before you commit to any candidate or agency. Judge the skill needed for the work. Do not ask where anyone was born.

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: Write the parent's language line

Write which language the parent speaks most comfortably, which language the parent reads, and whether the parent prefers spoken or written instructions.

Parent speaks: ______________ Parent reads: ______________ Parent prefers: ______________

Step 2: Write the family's language line

Name who will talk to the caregiver each day, which language they will use, and who will read the written plan and the caregiver's notes.

Family contact: ______________ Language: ______________ Reads the plan: ______________

Step 3: Ask what the provider can read and speak

Ask: Which languages do you speak and read well enough to follow a written plan? Write the answer exactly as given. Listen for named languages and a plain statement of what the person can read. Walk away if the answer is vague, such as I can manage, and no test is offered.

Answer: ____________________________________________

Step 4: Run a restatement test

Give the candidate the three most important lines from the parent's routine, written in the language the family uses. Ask them to restate each line in their own words, in writing, in the language they prefer. Mark which lines came back right.

Line 1: ______________ Correct? Y / N

Line 2: ______________ Correct? Y / N

Line 3: ______________ Correct? Y / N

Step 5: Ask what happens when something is unclear

Ask: What do you do when a word or instruction is unclear to you? Listen for an answer that asks the family before guessing and names a way to check, such as writing the question on the note. Walk away if the answer is that they will guess and figure it out later.

Step 6: Set how notes come back

Write which language the caregiver's notes will be written in and which language the family will read them in. If those differ, write how the family will get a reliable reading of each note.

Notes written in: ______________ Family reads them in: ______________

Step 7: Name who speaks to the doctor's office and pharmacy

Write who handles calls and in-person talks with the doctor's office and the pharmacy. A caregiver may pick up prescriptions as an errand and give medication reminders from the family's written schedule, but the medicine itself stays with the family, the doctor, and the pharmacist. The language line should name who speaks for the family when a pickup question comes up.

Pharmacy and doctor calls handled by: ______________

For local resources that can help families with these calls, see Local Help for Hiring a Caregiver.