The Week
Hire the Hard Hours, Do the Rest Yourself: Split the Week's Tasks Before Day Seven
Sort the ordinary tasks of the week into what the family can keep up and what needs hired help, then count the hours honestly.
By the end of the first week, most families know which tasks are hard and which are simply tiring. The job now is to split the work on paper so that the decisions are yours, made in advance, rather than made at midnight when someone is exhausted.
List the week, not the day
Write out seven days across the top and the tasks down the side. Include meals, laundry, rides to appointments, pharmacy trips, reminders for the day's routine, help with bathing or dressing, overnight coverage, house checks, and phone calls to the insurer or the doctor's office. Then fill in each box with who does it: family, hired help, or the clinical team.
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.
Decide what a hired caregiver can do
A non-medical caregiver can give medication reminders and can pick up a filled prescription as an errand. Anything that touches the medicine itself stays with the family, the prescriber, and the pharmacist. Write that line into your plan so there is no confusion later. If an agency offers a list of tasks, ask for it in writing and check it against your own list.
Hire the hours you cannot cover
Look at the hours that need a person in the room and that fall when the family cannot be there. Those are the hours to hire. Count them honestly, including the early morning and late evening. Some families find the hard hours are bathing, transfers, and the night, while the rest of the day is manageable with a rota.
Do the rest yourself, but count it
Meals, laundry, and errands can often be done by family for a short stretch. Write down how many hours each person can give per week and for how long. A plan that depends on one person giving time every day usually fails within weeks. Decide in advance who covers when that person needs a break.
Check the scope before you sign
Ask any agency to say, in writing, which tasks are included, which are not, and what happens when the schedule changes. Compare that list with your split. Where they do not match, change the plan before you agree to hours.
Where to find help locally
If you need a starting list of agencies, support groups, or places to call in the St. Louis area, the Local Help After a Discharge page is written for that point in the week. Use it to make calls, and bring your split to every call.