A Family Care Book
Everything about your loved one's care in one place: medicines, daily notes, warning signs, appointments, and who is helping this week. It stays on the kitchen table, where everyone who helps can see it.
For families caring for someone at home
When someone you love comes home from the hospital, we help your family take it from there.
We give your family a Family Care Book that keeps everything in one place, a trained helper for the first 30 days, and an easy way for relatives and neighbors to pitch in. We are working to make it free for families.
The first day home
The first days at home are the hardest
Most families leave the hospital with a folder of papers, a bag of new medicines, and a follow-up visit that someone still has to book. The instructions were written for the hospital, and it is hard to know how they apply at home.
Usually one person ends up in charge, most often a daughter, a son or a spouse. Many are also working and running their own homes, and nobody has shown them what to do. The first days are when the most goes wrong: a medicine taken twice, a warning sign nobody recognized, a ride that fell through.
We start on that first day and stay with your family for a month.
What your family gets
Four things for the first month
A helper for 30 days
A trained, paid helper from your community meets your family before discharge or in the first three days. They help you set up the book, write down questions for your pharmacist, and make the right calls. After that they check in every week.
Helping hands
A sign-up page for rides, meals, walks and visits, so one person doesn't have to do everything. Relatives who live far away can get a short update each week.
A copy your family keeps
Once a week, you take a photo of the pages that changed. The copies stay with your family and go with your loved one to every doctor, hospital or new home.
Why a book
Paper works for everyone in the family
Many older adults would rather hold a page than open an app. A book needs no password, no charger and no signal. The person being cared for can read it too, in large print and in their own language.
Good care homes run on simple routines that everyone shares: a medicine chart with a box to initial, a short note at every change of shift, a calendar on the wall, and a page about who the person is and what they enjoy. The book brings those routines home. Anyone who visits writes one line in the daily notes, so the next person knows what happened.
Daily notesOne line a day, from whoever is here
Weigh every morning, after the bathroom and before breakfast. Same scale, same clothes.
Call the heart clinic if: up 3 lb in a day, or 5 lb in a week. 555-0142
| Day | Weight | Notes | Who |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu | 141.5 | Home at 2. Tired but happy to be home. Soup for dinner. | Ana |
| Fri | 141 | Slept better. Walked to the mailbox with me. | Ana |
| Sat | 141.5 | Lunch on the porch. Laughing again. | Gloria |
| Sun | 144.5 | Up 3 lb! Ankles puffy. Called clinic 9:10. Nurse raised water pill for 2 days. | Ana |
| Mon | 142.5 | Ankles better. Clinic called to check on her. | Ana |
MedicinesInitial the box each time a dose is taken
| Medicine | Morning | Evening | Bedtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Furosemide 40 mgWater pill. Small, white, round. | A | ||
| Metoprolol succinate 25 mgHeart rate. White, oval. | A | ||
| Empagliflozin 10 mgHeart and kidneys. Yellow, oval. | A | ||
| Lisinopril 5 mgBlood pressure. Pink, round. | |||
| Atorvastatin 40 mgCholesterol. White, round, larger. |
Furosemide is the same medicine as the old LASIX bottle. Don't take both! Old bottle is in the bag for the pharmacist.
Example pages, filled in by Teresa's family. Teresa and her family are invented. Your own medicines and warning signs always come from your doctor and pharmacist.
The first 30 days
One family's first month
Teresa is 78. She is coming home after four days in the hospital for heart failure. Her daughter Ana lives 20 minutes away, and her son Miguel lives in another state. Her neighbor Gloria has lived two doors down for thirty years, and an aide comes on Tuesdays.
- Before she leaves
Rosa, a KISOP helper, meets Ana at the hospital. They start the book with the discharge papers and book the follow-up visit before Teresa goes home.
- Day 1, Thursday
The book goes on the kitchen table. Ana puts the new medicine list in the book, and Rosa helps her call the pharmacist. The pharmacist goes through each medicine with Ana and finds that the new water pill and an old bottle in the cabinet are the same medicine under two names. The old bottle goes in a bag for the pharmacist.
- Day 2
The family fills in the helping-hands page. Ana takes Mondays and Thursdays, Gloria walks with Teresa on Wednesdays, and Miguel calls every Sunday. Friday is still open, so Rosa asks around, and Gloria's son says he can come.
- Day 4, Sunday
Teresa's weight is up three pounds overnight. The daily notes page says to call the heart clinic when that happens, and the number is right there. Ana calls. The nurse raises her water pill for two days over the phone, and Teresa stays home.
- One week later
Ana brings the book to the follow-up visit. The doctor sees a week of weights, the medicine list and the family's questions, all on paper in front of them.
- Weeks 2 to 4
Rosa checks in every week, and she asks how Ana is doing too. When Ana's week fills up, Rosa finds someone to take one of her days. She also learns that Teresa's health plan covers rides to appointments and two weeks of meals after a hospital stay.
- Day 30
Rosa's last visit. Teresa knows her warning signs, and the family has copies of every page that matters. They know who to call from here.
Teresa, Ana, Miguel, Gloria and Rosa are invented. No one's real information appears on this site.
Who pays
Working to make it free for families
We are working on getting support from sponsors to keep the book free for all.
Ask whether it is available where you live yet, or sign up to receive a book when it is.
Ask if it is available to you
Sign up to receive a book
We never sell anyone's information, and there are no ads on anything we make. The book and every copy belong to your family.
Start today
Things you can do now
Before you leave the hospital
Six things to ask the nurse, including how to get your name on the record as the family caregiver.
What to askPrint what's ready
A one-page summary for doctors, a letter to request medical records, and an action plan for a loved one. Free, in English and Spanish.
See the pagesAsk about a helper
Our helpers work with our hospital partners. Tell us where you live, and we will let you know when the service is available.
Ask about a helper