You watch the snow build from your office window. Or, you watch the storm clouds roll in–you know another doozy is on its way. You’re supposed to stop at your mom’s house on your way home from work. If you stop to help her, you wonder how you’ll ever make it home. If you don’t stop to help her…

When bad weather comes between you and your caree, consider these tips:

1. Check with your caree’s physician and specialists for suggestions on how to ensure your caree is safe during weather emergencies.

2. If your caree receives care from a home health aide hired by a home care agency, check with the agency’s director to determine its protocol during snowstorms. If an aide can’t make it to work, will another be assigned? What other options are available?

3. If your caree relies on important regular treatments (dialysis, chemotherapy, wound care, oxygen delivery), work with the service provider to create a safe back-up plan.

4. If you’ve hired a home care worker privately, be sure to create a back-up plan if the home care worker must cancel because of weather conditions. (Use this back-up plan year-round, if your home care worker becomes ill, quits, or just doesn’t work out.) See Create a Contingency Plan and How Do I Train my Sister?.

5. If you have family in the area and they regularly help, create a “tag team” system that you can use during a weather emergency. Determine which family member will stop at your caree’s home, which family member is the back-up and how communication between the “tag team” will occur.

6. Keep extra caregiving supplies (incontinence supplies, over-the-counter medications, medications, canned goods, frozen meals) and extra boredom-fighting supplies (books, videos, puzzles, crossword puzzles, stationery) on hand at your caree’s house and at your house, just in case.

7. Create a space in your caree’s house for your own personal supplies (a change of clothes, toiletries, medications) that you may need in case you must spend the night.

8. Use online services to order medications and food for delivery to your caree’s home.

9. Check with your caree’s town and county about assistance they offer to homebound frail older adults during weather emergencies. You can call the ElderCare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 for a referral to the Area Agency on Aging in your care recipient’s community.

10. Ask neighbors of your caree if they can pitch in by stopping to check on your caree. Let them know how they can reach you in case of an emergency. Be sure someone you trust who lives near your caree’s home has an extra set of keys.

11. Hire teen-agers in your caree’s neighborhood to shovel.

12. If your caree lives in a rural area or has a long walk to the mailbox, check with the local post office to ensure that mail delivery occurs at your caree’s front door.

13. If you work, check with your employer’s Work/Life benefit and Human Resources department to learn about your options if you must miss work to stay home with your caree.

14. Check with current services that you use (adult day centers, Meals on Wheels, volunteer programs, phone check-in programs, senior centers) and ask about their protocol during a weather emergency. Ask for their suggestions to fill any voids in care. Be sure to also check with the staff if your caree resides in an assisted living facility or nursing home.

15. Listen to Your Caregiving Journey and our segment on creating a personal emergency kit for your caree.