Training › For families › Staying safe at home

This is for you, the daughter or son or niece or nephew who is looking after a parent at home. You may have a vague sense of what you would do in an emergency, but not a plan you could hand to someone else. That is what we are going to build here. One quiet afternoon, one page, and a few small things kept in the right places. So that on a hard day, the thinking is already done.

One thing before anything else, because it is the most important sentence in this whole module.

Who to call, in order

The heart of an emergency plan is a short list of people and the order you call them. Write it down. Do not keep it in your head, and do not keep it only on your own phone. Your parent needs to reach it too, and so does anyone who might be in the house when something happens.

A simple order that works for most families:

1. Emergency services (911). First, always, for anything life-threatening.
2. The family member who lives closest. The person who can be at the door fastest.
3. A trusted neighbour. Someone two minutes away who has a key.
4. The family doctor or clinic. For the things that are urgent but not a 911 call.

Keep this list large and clear. Tape one copy to the fridge. Put one by the phone your parent actually uses. Save one in your own phone. The list is only useful if it is where someone's hand can find it without thinking.

The information that should always be within reach

When something goes wrong, the people helping your parent need a few facts fast. A paramedic at the door, a neighbour on the phone, a provider who has just arrived. Pull these together once and keep them current.

The short list that matters most:

• Allergies. Especially anything that affects medication.
• Medical conditions. The handful that a responder would want to know.
• Current medications. What your parent takes, and roughly when.
• The doctor's name and number.
• Who to call, in order. The same list from above.

Here is where iCaria does some of this work for you. In your parent's profile, the care safety section holds their allergies, medical conditions, and care instructions. These are shown to every provider before they arrive at the home. So a helper walking in already knows that Mr Khalil is allergic to penicillin and prefers a slow pace on the stairs. Keep that section current, and a real safety fact travels with your parent automatically.

Raising the alarm, and who to tell

The plan is people, in order:

1. 911 first. Or your local emergency number, for anything that might be life-threatening.
2. Then the family. Starting with the person who can be at the door fastest.
3. Then your Family Advocate. Once the immediate danger is in hand, so they know what happened and can help with the care that follows.

If your parent uses the app for loved ones, it has an Emergency button. Pressed and held for two seconds, it tells everyone in your household, except anyone in the care circle as a Friend, and your Family Advocate, by email and, for those who turned them on, by notification. It never calls an ambulance or emergency services. The screen says so and shows the local emergency number with a button to call it. With no connection, the number stays on screen and the alert is kept on the phone for up to 24 hours, then sent once the phone is back online with the app open.

Make sure your parent knows this too. The Emergency button tells the family. It does not bring help. For anything that might be life-threatening, the first call is 911, from the phone they actually use, with the who-to-call list beside it.

The go-bag and the things by the door

Some emergencies mean leaving the house quickly. A trip to the hospital, a power cut, a storm. A small packed bag by the door turns a frantic search into a single reach.

What a simple go-bag holds:

• A copy of the information page: medications, allergies, conditions, doctor, who to call.
• A few days of any essential medication, or a clear current list of them.
• Glasses, hearing aids and spare batteries, anything your parent cannot manage without.
• A phone charger, a little cash, a bottle of water, a warm layer.
• Copies of health card and ID, kept in a sealed envelope.

Keep the bag somewhere your parent can reach it, and tell them where it is. Check it twice a year, when the clocks change is an easy reminder, and refresh the medication list each time.

Where the advocate fits

If your family works with an iCaria advocate, they are a steady hand here. The advocate authors and maintains your parent's care plan and stays with your family across years. When you build this emergency plan, share it with them. They have seen many families through hard days, and they can tell you what is worth adding for your parent in particular. They are not the person you call instead of 911. They are the person who helps you make sure the rest of the plan is sound, well before any emergency.

Finding this again Open Training from your family portal any time to come back to this module. It is optional and educational, with a short self-check at the end and no certificate.