People and communication
- ✓Primary and backup contacts, with current phone numbers
- ✓Relevant professionals, services, neighbors, or community contacts
- ✓Who should be updated, for what reason, and in what order
- ✓Preferred ways and times to communicate
A practical caregiver information guide
What Information Should Your Caregivers or Trusted People Know?
The right information helps someone support you with less guesswork, whether they assist regularly, step in unexpectedly, or simply need to know where to start.
Direct answer
Caregivers and trusted people should know the information relevant to the help they may provide: key contacts, current routines, practical instructions, important preferences, and where to find essential records. Share only what each person needs, keep it current, and make sure they know how to access it.
A useful caregiver information checklist
The exact details depend on the person's role. Start with what would help a trusted person take the next sensible step without searching through messages, drawers, or old documents.
Daily routines and practical support
- ✓Regular schedules, appointments, transportation, and recurring commitments
- ✓Household instructions, entry details, and where practical items are kept
- ✓Food, mobility, sensory, language, cultural, or accessibility preferences
- ✓Pet care or other responsibilities that cannot be overlooked
Health and emergency context
- ✓Information you have chosen to share about conditions, allergies, medications, or support needs
- ✓Healthcare contacts and preferred facilities, when relevant
- ✓Where formal healthcare documents and insurance information are stored
- ✓Clear instructions about whom to contact in an urgent situation
Preferences, records, and boundaries
- ✓Personal preferences that help support feel respectful and familiar
- ✓Locations of identification, authorization documents, and other important records
- ✓Tasks a person may help with and tasks they should refer to someone else
- ✓Dates for reviewing and updating time-sensitive information
Important: This checklist is for organizing information. It is not medical, legal, or financial advice, and it does not grant anyone authority. Use appropriate professional guidance and formal documents where needed.
Who needs to know what?
A familiar problem is that useful details are scattered, while the people offering support have different responsibilities. Giving everyone every detail can create unnecessary exposure and confusion.
One trusted person may need healthcare or emergency information. Another may need household instructions. Someone else may only need to know who to contact or where a particular record is located.
Match information to responsibility, tell each person what their role is, and confirm that they can find what you intend them to use.
Emergency contactKey contacts, essential context, and the location of relevant records.
Day-to-day supportRoutines, appointments, practical instructions, and personal preferences.
Household helperProperty, pet, service, and access details relevant to their tasks.
Make the information usable, not just complete
A long collection is not helpful if no one knows what applies to them or whether it is still accurate. Use this three-part framework.
List the situations in which someone might help and the minimum information needed for each one.
Choose an appropriate trusted person for each responsibility and explain what you are asking them to do.
Check contact details, instructions, and access whenever circumstances change and at regular intervals.
Put the details somewhere your trusted people can use
Be Sure They Know is a private place for the information, instructions, messages, memories, and meaningful details you want the people around you to know. For caregiver information, it can help you bring relevant records and instructions together instead of leaving them scattered.
- ✓Organize contacts and the information connected to them in My Contacts
- ✓Keep practical instructions and meaningful preferences with your records
- ✓Update information as contacts, routines, and responsibilities change
Your Go Team
In Be Sure They Know, trusted people you identify can become part of your Go Team. You control each person's role and what information that person can access, so access can reflect what they actually need to know.
Be Sure They Know was created by Ann (Annie) Hall, PMP, and is operated by Golden Pond Investments Inc, a Michigan-based company.
Questions about sharing caregiver information
Should every caregiver have access to all of my information?
No. A better approach is to share information according to each person's responsibilities. Someone helping with transportation may need a schedule and contact details, while an emergency contact may need different information. Review access when roles change.
How often should caregiver information be updated?
Review it regularly and whenever a contact, medication, routine, service, address, or responsibility changes. Time-sensitive details should include a recent review date so a reader can judge whether they are current.
What if I do not have a formal caregiver?
The same checklist can help with any trusted person who may provide practical support, coordinate contacts, look after a home or pet, or help in an unexpected situation. Define the responsibility rather than relying on a job title.
Does organizing this information give someone legal authority?
No. Sharing information or naming a trusted person in a service does not by itself create legal authority. Formal authority depends on applicable documents and law; consult a qualified professional if you need guidance.
Preserve what is important now.
Start with the information only you know. Add to it over time.
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