The assessment visit is the agency's visit to your home before anyone is scheduled. It is not a sales call. It is where the agency learns your house and your routine, and where the first gaps get made or missed. Run it as a process with a start, a middle, and an end.

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.

Before the visit

Confirm the day, the time, and who will be home. Confirm it in writing so there is no question later.

Pick one person in the family to lead. That person answers questions and makes decisions in the room. Others can listen and add notes, but one voice keeps the visit from going in circles.

Write the routine on paper before anyone arrives. Include the usual start of the day, meals, appointments, regular visits from family, pets, and any part of the home the visitor should not enter or touch.

Write down who the agency should call first in an emergency, and who the second call is. Keep it to two names.

During the visit

First, walk through the routine from the start of the day to bedtime. Describe what happens, not a list of tasks. The routine shows what the work actually is.

Second, ask the visitor to tell you back what they heard. Listen for the parts they skipped. A visit that ends with gaps you can name is a visit you can fix.

Third, ask what they will write down, who will read it, and when you will see a copy. Get the answer in one sentence. If the answer takes three, ask again.

Fourth, ask which tasks fall outside the agreement. Write each one down. Ask what happens to a task that is outside the agreement but comes up anyway.

Fifth, ask what the agency needs from you before the first shift, and what you will need from the agency. Both lists should be written down.

Sixth, ask who the family contact is after the visit, by name and by role. A contact with no name is a finding.

After the visit

Ask for the written plan by a date you agree on in writing. Read it against your own notes. Mark every line that does not match what you said. Mismatches are the most useful thing the plan will show you.

Send corrections in writing and ask for a revised copy. Do not accept a verbal fix. Verbal fixes do not survive a change of staff.

Do not book a first shift until you have a corrected copy you agree with.

What a good visit looks like

The visitor asks more questions than they answer. The visit ends with a short list of open items, and each item has one owner. The person who visits is the person who will explain the plan to you later. If any of those things is missing, write that down and ask about it in writing.

Where health questions go

Health questions go to the family's doctor. The assessment visit is about the routine, the home, and the work. If the agency asks for health details, write down why it wants them and what it will do with the answer.

Once the plan is written, check the price side against How to read a home care quote. The visit tells you what the work is. The quote tells you what the agency charges for it. Keep those two papers separate until you have compared them.