Someone is covering for you this weekend. They are about to ask what they need to know. Hand them a page, not a speech.
The Family Care Binder is a 100 page paperback for the adult child caring for a parent with dementia who lives nearby. Doctors, medications, daily logs, shift handoffs, and an emergency sheet, all in one book you can keep on the kitchen counter.
The weekend test
A sibling, a neighbor, a paid aide. Whoever steps in needs the same few things: which medications and when, what the day looks like, what sets your parent off, and who to call, in order.
Page 82 is a one page Daily Care Summary for Substitute Caregivers built for exactly that. When care changes hands at the end of a shift, the Shift Handoff Notes take five minutes to fill in. The next person reads a page instead of calling you.
What is inside
- Section 1, The Medical Command Center (pages 6 to 27). Doctor and specialist contact list, medication log, appointment prep and post-appointment notes, insurance page, and prescription history.
- Section 2, The Daily Operations Log (pages 28 to 85). Morning and evening routine checklist, daily medication log, meal and hydration tracker, sleep log, behavior and mood log with a column for possible triggers, pain level tracker, shift handoff notes, and the substitute caregiver summary.
- Section 3, The Emergency First Response Sheet. Three copies of the one page a paramedic needs first.
- Notes pages at the back.
Start in the right order
The book tells you to fill in the Emergency First Response Sheet first. It takes about twenty minutes. Then the doctor list, the medication log, and the insurance page. The rest fills in as you go. Pencil for anything that changes, pen for the daily logs.
Who it is for
This edition is for a parent with dementia who lives close enough that you are the one on the ground. If your parent is sharp but physically declining, or you manage everything from a distance, the 3 question quiz sends you to the matching version.
The book is a record keeping tool. It does not give medical, legal, or financial advice, and it does not replace your parent's doctors, pharmacist, or an attorney.
Book or binder
The pages in the book are bound in. You cannot add pages, and the book says so up front. You may photocopy pages for your own use caring for one person.
If you want a 3 ring binder, extra pages, or a version you can type into on a computer, tablet, or phone, the same system is on this site: the Core Binder at $27 or the Complete System at $97. The quiz picks the right one. The Emergency Sheet builder is free, with no account.