A visit on the calendar is only as good as the person who arrives for it. When the assigned aide cannot come, the family is usually the one left at the door, so the backup plan needs to be settled before the agreement is signed. This guide sets out the questions to put to an agency and how to record the answers.
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.
What to ask before you sign
Put these questions to the agency in writing, or take notes on the call and ask the agency to confirm them by email.
- Who is the first person the family calls when the scheduled aide cannot come, and what is that person's direct line?
- How much notice does the family get when a visit changes, and how does the agency send that notice?
- Is there a backup aide who has already met the family and knows the task list, or would the backup be someone the family has never seen?
- If no aide can come at the planned time, does a supervisor step in, or does the family get a callback by a set time?
- How is a missed visit recorded, and can the family see that record afterward?
- Who answers the phone after business hours, and is that the same team as the daytime office?
Mark what came from a file and what is your judgment
Before the call, run the agency's name through the public lookups. From the file: the listed name, the address on record, and the phone number on record. Editorial: whether the answers sound workable for your household. Keep those two kinds of entry in separate columns. A public file shows what the agency has registered, not how it will handle a bad morning. The step-by-step lookup is set out in how to check any home health agency in five federal lookups.
Write the backup plan on one page
Put the answers on one sheet: the name and direct line of the first contact, the notice rule, the backup aide's name if one was given, the supervisor step, and where missed visits are logged. Keep a copy with the family contact, and give one to any other adult in the household who shares the calls. Review the sheet whenever the assigned aide changes.
When the answers are thin
If the agency cannot name a backup, cannot say how notice is given, or says the family will be called when someone is free, mark that as an open item on the sheet. Ask the same questions of a second agency before you decide. An open item is a question to take back to the agency, not a finding against it. The answers you collect go on the sheet, and the decision stays with the family.
What no agency can promise
No agency can promise that every visit will happen as planned. What the family can do is know, before the first shift, who to call, how quickly the family will hear about a change, and what is written down. Questions about the person's health go to the family's doctor.