A machine can arrive at the house with a delivery ticket, a power cord and very little explanation. At two in the morning, none of that tells you who owns the problem when it alarms, loses power or will not start.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
You should not have to diagnose or repair hospice equipment. Your job is smaller and more practical: know which number to call, what information to read from the machine and what the hospice wants you to do while help is coming.
Ask who is responsible before there is a problem
For each item supplied through hospice, ask the hospice nurse to identify the company responsible for service and replacement. Medicare includes medical equipment and supplies related to the terminal illness and related conditions when they are included in the hospice plan of care. That does not mean every household item is the hospice's responsibility. Ask which equipment is hospice-provided and which equipment the family owns, rents separately or received through another benefit.
Then ask one direct question: "If this stops working tonight, do I call hospice first or the equipment company?" Some hospices want every call to come through their on-call line. Others may instruct you to call the supplier for a mechanical problem. Write down the answer given by your hospice.
Put one card on each machine
Attach a card where it can be read without moving the equipment. Include:
• The name of the equipment.
• The hospice's round-the-clock number.
• The supplier's service number, if the hospice tells you to use it.
• The model and serial number.
• The setting or configuration recorded by the hospice, if the nurse wants it listed.
• The location of any backup supplied with the equipment.
• The first person in the family to call if the caregiver in the house needs help.
Do not copy instructions from another machine or another household. Do not change a prescribed setting because the equipment is noisy or alarming. Read the label and the display to the hospice, then follow the instructions given for this person and this equipment.
Ask what replacement actually means
"We replace failed equipment" is not yet a usable plan. Ask whether replacement service is available after normal business hours. Ask who authorizes the service call, where the replacement comes from and whether someone must be awake to receive it. If the house has a gate, an alarm, a steep driveway or a door that is difficult to find, give those details before an urgent delivery.
Ask what the family should do if the supplier cannot arrive promptly. The answer may depend on the equipment and the hospice plan of care. You are not asking the hospice to predict every failure. You are asking it to state the next call and the next safe location if care cannot continue in the house with the equipment unavailable.
Make the power-outage plan specific
Missouri DHSS advises people receiving care at home to know their agency's emergency procedures, keep personal health information with the emergency kit and tell the agency if they relocate. The federal hospice emergency-preparedness rule also requires a hospice to plan for continuity of operations and communication during emergencies.
Ask the hospice:
• Which supplied devices require household electricity?
• Does any device have a battery, and how do you confirm that it is charged?
• Has a backup device or alternate supply been provided?
• How long is that backup intended to support the plan the hospice gave you?
• At what point should you call the hospice during an outage?
• Where should you go if power cannot be restored and the equipment cannot be supported at home?
• Who arranges transportation if moving becomes necessary?
Do not assume a portable unit is the backup merely because it is in the house. Ask the nurse to show you what it is for and when the hospice wants it used. If you are considering a generator, ask the equipment supplier and a qualified electrician what the device requires. Do not connect medical equipment through an improvised setup.
Check the parts that quietly run out
Some equipment remains functional only because disposable parts are available. Ask which tubing, filters, collection containers, batteries or other supplies are meant to be replaced by the family, which are replaced by the hospice or supplier and how you request more. Keep unopened supplies together and leave labels intact.
Choose one person to look at the supply level on a regular household schedule. That person is counting and calling, not deciding whether a medical item is still needed. Questions about use belong with the hospice team.
Practice the call once
Stand beside the equipment with the nurse or delivery technician. Locate the power switch, identification label, service number and backup. Ask what lights, words or sounds you should report. Have the person watch while you find each item yourself.
If instructions conflict, call the hospice. A delivery technician can explain the machine, but the hospice directs the hospice plan of care. Keep the hospice number above the supplier number so the order is clear in a tired moment.
Know the boundary of the plan
An equipment plan does not ask you to determine what a physical change means. Call the hospice when equipment fails, when you cannot carry out the instructions you were given or when you are worried about the person in the bed. If there is immediate danger, use the emergency instructions established with the hospice and call emergency services when needed.
The calmest version of this work is plain: one labeled machine, one known first call, one stated backup and one answer about where care continues if the house cannot support the equipment. If those pieces are missing, ask for them while the room is quiet.
This guide is grounded in Medicare's hospice benefit description, the federal hospice conditions of participation and emergency-preparedness requirements, Missouri DHSS home-care preparedness guidance, and practical emergency-planning guidance from the National Institute on Aging, the Department of Veterans Affairs and national caregiver organizations. The underlying references are collected on the Sources page. For the larger division of work between scheduled hospice visits and the household, read The Hours Between Hospice Visits.