This guide covers the errands a non-medical caregiver or household helper runs for an older adult in the St. Louis area, including grocery runs, hardware and household pickups, and returns. The problems here are about the list, the store, and the record, not about anyone's skill.
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.
Errands usually go wrong in three ways before anyone notices a pattern. The first is substitution: a brand, size, or item is swapped without asking. The second is the extra item: something that was not on the list comes home in the bag. The third is the missing record: a receipt or returned change never reaches the family, so no one can match the purchase to the list. Each of these can be caught in the first week if someone compares the bag with the list at the door.
Check the list before the errand leaves. Write each item with the brand or the word any beside it. Name the store. State in writing which substitutions the caregiver may accept without asking and which must be cleared first. Keep an envelope on the kitchen counter for receipts and any change that comes back. Agree on what happens to a returned item and who handles the return.
The first-week check: for the first five errands, compare the bag with the list at the door. Mark each item as on list, substituted, or extra, and note the store and whether a receipt came back. Keep the sheet with the visit log. Look for the same item substituted twice, a store changed without notice, or receipts that stop appearing. A single substitution may be a stock problem. A repeated one is a process problem.
Checklist for the household: a list that names stores, a substitution rule, a receipt envelope, a return rule, and one named person who reviews the sheet each week. Put that person's name in writing so the errand has an owner. If no one in the family has time to review the sheet, the errand is the first task to move to a store that delivers, and the family can confirm the delivery terms directly with that store.
Questions to ask an agency about errands. Does the caregiver spend household funds or personal funds, and how are those purchases recorded? Are errands listed as their own line in the written agreement? What happens when a store is closed or an item is out of stock? Does the office notify the family when a substitution is made? Who handles a return, and who signs for it?
Compare agencies by how they document errands, not by how they describe their staff. An agency that writes down each substitution, returns receipts, and asks before swapping an item is easier to hold to the list than one that treats errands as a loose favor.
For grocery delivery and meal help for older adults, the county senior services office and the area agency on aging can name programs that serve St. Charles County and St. Louis County. The public library's information desk can point to current listings. Program details change, so call the program before relying on it.
Keep the errand sheet with the household's other records, ideally beside the visit log. Read together, the two show whether a problem sits with the store, the caregiver, or the list itself.