A caregiver shift assumes the house works. The heat runs, the water comes out hot, the hall light comes on, and the door locks. When one of those fails in the middle of a shift, the question of who calls whom usually gets answered in a hurry. This guide sorts it out before the first shift, while there is still time to write it 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: List the systems the shift depends on

  1. Heating and cooling, with the thermostat location: ________________
  2. Water heater and the main water shutoff: ________________
  3. Electrical panel and the breakers for the rooms your parent uses: ________________
  4. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, with the replacement schedule printed on each unit: ________________
  5. Refrigerator and stove: ________________
  6. Washer and dryer, if the caregiver will use them: ________________
  7. Any sump pump, well, or water softener: ________________
  8. Internet router and the phone signal near your parent's room: ________________
  9. Entry lights, exterior lights, and the garage door opener if it is used: ________________

Walk the house with a pen. Write the location of each item on its line. Do not rely on memory for the shutoffs and the panel.

Step 2: Give each system one owner and one backup

The owner is the person or company who pays for and arranges repair of that system. It might be your family, a landlord, a condo association, or a contractor you already use. The backup is the second person called if the owner does not answer within the time you set. Fill in both for every line from Step 1.

System: ________________ Owner (name and number): ________________ Backup (name and number): ________________ Minutes before the backup is called: ________

Step 3: Ask the caregiver or agency these four questions

  1. When the furnace, water heater, or power fails during my shift, who do you call first, and who second?
  2. Will you reset a breaker, change a thermostat setting, or close a water shutoff, and is that written on the duty list?
  3. Do you keep a log of each call, and can I see a sample page?
  4. Do you buy any repair part or pay for a service call, and who approves that spend before it happens?

Listen for a plain order of calls and a log you can read. Be wary of 'we will figure it out on the day' and 'we handle everything,' since both leave the decision unassigned until something breaks.

Walk away from any candidate who offers to do electrical, gas, or plumbing work as part of the shift. That work sits outside the caregiver's list. Write the answer down, then ask who else would do it and how you would check that person's credentials.

Step 4: Run the outage sequence on paper before it happens

  1. Safety first. If there is smoke, a gas smell, or water near a live outlet, the caregiver moves your parent out of the room and calls emergency services before anything else.
  2. If it is safe to look, check whether the system is simply switched off, such as a tripped breaker or a thermostat set to the wrong mode.
  3. Write down the time, what failed, and what was tried.
  4. Call the owner listed on the sheet.
  5. If the owner has not answered within the set time, call the backup and write that call down too.
  6. The family decides whether the shift continues, whether your parent moves to another room or another home, or whether the shift ends early.

Post the finished sheet beside the phone, and put a copy in the caregiver's folder. A sheet only helps if the person on shift can find it without calling you first.

Step 5: Keep the sheet current

Each time a system is replaced, a contractor changes, or a unit is moved, update that line the same day. Review the sheet when you review the caregiver's duty list, and initial the margin to show the review happened.

What to write down

Keep the sheet, the outage log, and the names of every owner and backup in one place the family can reach. If a repair happens while the caregiver is on shift, the log is the record of what was known, when it was known, and who was called.

The house works for a caregiver only when someone has already decided which system belongs to whom. Settle that before the first shift, and the next phone call during a shift becomes a short list you can follow. For the order of the whole hiring process, see Start Here: Five Steps to Hiring.