The visit schedule tells you when a team member comes to the house. It does not tell you who goes to the pharmacy counter. Somebody in the house has to call in refills, make the pickup, and bring the bag home, and in most houses that job has no name until someone runs out. This guide is about finding that gap before a bottle runs low, not after.

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.

Three signs the pickup has no one assigned

If any of these has happened at your house, you are probably in the gap.

  • Two people each phoned in the same refill request, or nobody did.
  • The pharmacy called the house, and the call went to voicemail or was answered by someone who did not know it was for them.
  • A pharmacy bag sat on the counter until someone asked, 'Did anyone pick that up?'

Write down the name, the day, and the phone number

Make one short list on the refrigerator or on the counter. For each medicine the pharmacy fills, write the name as the pharmacy label gives it, the day the refill is usually needed, who calls the pharmacy, who makes the pickup, and who the pharmacist should call with a question. If one of those lines has no person beside it, the gap is there, and it is yours to close.

Where the hired caregiver fits

A paid caregiver may be asked to run the pickup as an errand, and may give a medication reminder when the time comes. The caregiver does not sort the medicine, measure it, or decide what happens to it. Those tasks stay with the family, the doctor, and the pharmacist. Put the errand on the job list in those words, and put the medicine questions on the list under the family's name. If the agency's paperwork describes the job differently, ask for the paperwork to be corrected before the first shift.

Ask the team in writing

Ask the hospice team to tell you, in writing, who in the house is the contact for medicine questions, and which number to call when a refill date on the pharmacy label does not match what the team expects. Ask the pharmacist how far ahead they want a refill request, and whether the pharmacy can call the same phone number each time. Those answers are small, and they prevent a good deal of double calling.

For the first questions in order, Start Here lays them out. Keep the list on paper, and read it again on the day the next refill is due.