When the Family Caregiver Deploys or Travels: A Sierra Vista Handoff Plan

Quick answer: If you’re the one caring for a parent and you get orders or have to travel, start with a written handoff, then line up coverage for the times your parent would otherwise be alone. Respite care can be a few afternoons a week or include overnights. Call as soon as you know your dates so your parent can meet the caregiver before you leave. Fort Huachuca’s Family Center at 520-533-2330 can point you to deployment support.

Orders don’t wait for a care schedule. Sierra Vista has plenty of households where a mother or father-in-law lives in the back bedroom and a soldier, an Army civilian or a contractor is the person holding it all together. Then comes the deployment, the long training stint or the two-week work trip.

Say you’re the daughter who handles your dad’s rides and meals, and you’ve just learned you’ll be gone for a month. Military families know how to prepare a household for someone leaving. It’s a different job when the person left behind is eighty-four.

Sort out what’s actually being left uncovered

Before calling anyone, write down what you do in an ordinary week. Most people undercount. Include the invisible stuff: noticing he didn’t finish lunch, reminding him about his medication, sitting up with him on a bad night.

Then sort each item by who could do it. A sibling can handle the bills from Ohio. A neighbor can take in the mail. Bathing help, rides and someone at the kitchen table can’t happen long-distance, and those are the hours where respite care fits.

The handoff binder

Whoever steps in will need the same information. One binder on the kitchen counter, with a copy on your phone, should cover:

• Doctors’ names and numbers, and upcoming appointments

• The current medication list, for reminders only, as written by the doctor or pharmacy

• A typical day, down to how he takes his coffee and what time he likes to go to bed

• What upsets him and what settles him

• Who to call first and second, and how to reach you, including when you’ll be hard to reach

• Where the paperwork lives

If you don’t already have paperwork saying who can talk to doctors and handle decisions while you’re away, see an attorney well before you go. This is especially true if you’re the one currently named. An attorney can tell you what fits your situation.

What coverage can look like

The right plan depends on how long you’ll be gone and whether your parent can be alone at night. For a short trip, a few visits may do. For longer absences, you might build in a regular schedule of rides, personal care and meals, and talk with us about overnights. No weekly minimums and no long-term contracts means you can scale it back once you’re home.

Our caregivers are active seniors, and a peer often understands what a military household has been through. Your dad gets someone who’ll drive him to the commissary or the Sierra Vista VA clinic and listen to the stories. If your parent lives on post, tell us at the consultation so we can talk through access.

Your parent should meet the caregiver before you go. Once you’ve left is a bad time to find out it isn’t a good fit. If that happens anyway, we’ll introduce someone else.

Other calls worth making

• The Family Center at Fort Huachuca, part of the Military and Family Support Center, offers support across all phases of deployment: 520-533-2330.

• Military OneSource, if you can’t connect locally: 800-342-9647.

• SEAGO Area Agency on Aging’s Family Caregiver Support Program offers counseling, support groups and help accessing respite in its region: 520-432-2528.

Your unit may have its own requirements for family planning. Check with your chain of command.

Frequently asked questions

How soon should I call? As soon as you have dates. Time for your parent to get to know the caregiver is worth more than any binder.

Can I get updates while I’m gone? Tell us what you’d like and who else should hear it, with your parent’s permission, and we’ll work out how that happens around your communication limits.

What if my dates change? Military dates often do. Tell us as soon as you know, and we’ll adjust the schedule.

If you’ve got orders or a long trip coming, call us at (520) 487-4246 or request a free in-home consultation. We serve Sierra Vista, Fort Huachuca, Hereford, Huachuca City, Whetstone and the surrounding Cochise County communities.