Errands Can Go to a Helper, Medicines Stay With the Family: Sort Each Task Before You Hire Anyone
Before paying for help at home, split the week's tasks into what a non-medical helper can take on, what stays with the family, and what belongs to a clinician.
Most families think about hiring help as a single decision, but the week is really a list of separate tasks, and each one belongs to a different person. Sorting that list before you pay for anything tells you which hours you are actually buying.
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.
Start with the week, not the job title
Write every recurring task on one page for a normal week: meals, laundry, rides, errands, reminders, housekeeping, and the hands-on personal care. Add the medicine items to the list too, but keep them on a separate line. The list makes the hidden work visible, and that is where most budgets go wrong.
What a non-medical helper can take
A hired or in-home non-medical caregiver can provide medication reminders and can pick up prescriptions as an errand. Meal preparation, laundry, light housekeeping, errands, and companionship are the kinds of tasks families most often assign to a helper. Put each one on the list in plain words, so that everyone agrees on what the helper will do and what it will not.
What stays with the family, the doctor, and the pharmacist
Handing out doses, administering medicine, sorting or filling pill organizers, and managing the medicine supply stay with the family, the physician, and the pharmacist. Keep those tasks on the family list even if a helper is in the home every day, and say so in the written task list you agree to. If a task sits on the boundary, ask the pharmacist or the physician before you assign it.
Check the written task list
Whether you hire through an agency or arrange the help yourself, ask for a written list of tasks the helper will perform. Compare that list against your own sorted week. Any task on your list that is missing from the helper's list is still yours to cover. Any task on the helper's list that belongs in the medicine column is a sign the list needs to be corrected before the first shift.
Know where the medical questions go
Changes in the parent's condition, questions about what medicines are needed, and decisions about personal care that involve the body belong to the physician and the care team. Missouri Aging Ahead and the Area Agency on Aging can help you find local non-medical services, and Missouri SHIP can explain which costs Medicare does not cover. If the question is about the legal duties you carry as an employer or family member, the Missouri Bar lawyer referral service is the right next step.
For the local services that can cover some of these tasks, see Local Help With Paying for Care, and for the order to read the rest of this desk, see Start Here: The Order to Read.