For families with a parent who lives alone

Short guides for the questions families ask us before they decide anything. They are written for the US, and most of them are useful whether or not you ever use Care.

• A daily check-in call for a parent who lives alone

  What a daily check-in call service does, what happens when nobody answers, what it cannot do, and how to set one up for a parent who lives on her own.

• Your parent is not answering the phone

  Calm steps for the day she does not pick up: who to try first, how to ask for a welfare check in her town from another state, and when to call 911.

• Medical alert pendant or a daily check-in call?

  A pendant waits for her to press it. A check-in call notices when she does not answer. What each one covers, what each one misses, and when to have both.

• When a parent lives alone, what to put in place

  What is worth sorting out before anything happens: who has a key, what is written down, a phone she can reach, and a daily sign that she is fine.

• Checking on a parent who lives far away

  Practical ways to look out for a parent in another state: one person nearby, a plan the siblings share, her details written down, and a daily sign that she is fine.

• Free check-in call programs for older people living alone

  Many counties, sheriffs and volunteer groups ring older people who live alone at no cost. How to find one near your parent, what to ask, and when a paid call fits better.

• How to bring up a daily call with your parent

  What to say, what to leave out, and how to answer what parents usually say back, when you suggest a daily morning call to a mother or father who lives alone.

• What a daily check-in call costs

  Free county programs, apps, automated calls, live callers and medical alert pendants: what each costs per month, from the providers' own pages.

• A daily check-in call works on a landline

  A daily check-in call needs no smartphone, app or internet. How it works on a landline, what happens with an answering machine, and what does not reach one.

• You noticed changes in your parent over the holidays

  The holidays are when families notice an empty fridge, unopened mail or a new bruise. How to sort what you saw, what to do this week, and what can wait.

• Snug Safety or a daily check-in call?

  Snug Safety is a free check-in app for people who live alone. How it works, what it costs and needs, and how a call that rings her phone compares.

• "Are You OK?" programs and paid daily calls, compared

  Many sheriffs and police departments run a free daily "Are You OK?" call for seniors. How they work, who can join, and how paid daily calls compare.

• Free check-in call programs, state by state

  Free telephone reassurance and daily check-in call programs for older adults, state by state. Each one read on its own page, with how to sign up.