What To Do When The Primary Caregiver Is Absent (Emergency Care List)

If you are a primary caregiver, have you thought about what happens if you get sick or are away for a few days?  Does your temporary caregiver know what do and how to do it?  Do you have an emergency care list?

When my children were young, I had documents prepared for baby sitters and family members who stayed with my children when my husband and I went for a weekend get-away or for a business trip.  It recently occurred to me that I need a similar document for Gladys, so I have put together some information that I want to share with you.

Gladys’ Routine:

• The time we wake Gladys up in the morning
• Procedure for bathing and the order in which things are done.  For instance, first thing in the morning, I put a little cup of mouth wash on the sink in front of her dentures so she will remember to rinse her mouth before putting in her dentures.
• The order in which she puts on her clothes
• How to help her get dressed
• Type of diet she is on
• Foods she likes and dislikes
• When she eats breakfast and what she eats
• The kind of utensils she uses for meals
• When to give her medications
• How to sort her medications (including over the counter medications that the doctor has prescribed)
• What days Gladys attends adult day care and the time we take her and pick her up
• Which walker she uses in the house and when she goes out
• What things should be in her walker’s tote bag
• When she uses her wheel chair
• How to fold the wheel to put it in the car
• How to help Gladys out of the house and into the car
• How to help her into and out of her wheel chair
• What to do when she has nosebleeds
• Emergency phone numbers (mine, husbands, daughters)
• Name of her doctor, phone number and address
• Name and address of her doctor’s preferred hospital
• Copies of her medicare and prescription cards
• Television shows, CDs and DVDs she likes
• What to do when she is upset
• How to get her ready for bed and making sure her dentures are soaked
• How long it takes for simple tasks (for instance, it takes at least 1-1/2 hours to get Gladys ready to leave for day care) and that’s if everything goes according to plan
• Make sure our cats are kept separated
• When and what to feed the cats (one cat eats regular food, the other is on weight controlled food)

If you wonder why it is important to list the order in which things are done, that’s because my list is for someone who has dementia.  Routines and the order in which we do things are important to keep Gladys from becoming more confused than necessary.

Of course, everyone would make a list that reflects their own routines and preferences.  If you can think of things that I may have missed that would apply to all caregivers, please share in the comment section.

Update:  I left out two very important things to put on the list in case of a medical emergency

• date of birth
• known allergies

Subscribe to the comments for this post