An expert's guide to care planning for the New Year. Over the years, I've seen time and again how even the most devoted families can falter in the absence of a plan. When care is reactive, decisions are rushed, caregivers burn out, and patients suffer.
Families who plan ahead, however, transform crisis into confidence. Studies show that proactive care planning can reduce hospitalisations by up to 30%, ease trauma, reduce family stress, and ensure every decision honours the individual's values.
As the saying goes: This Rosh Hashanah, it's time to flip that script. Make care planning your New Year's resolution - not because you expect the worst, but because you want to protect and honour the best in those you love.
This guide will show you how to build a living, flexible care plan - one that brings clarity in uncertainty and dignity at every step.
1. Embrace care planning as a strategic resolution
A care plan is more than a list of medications or appointments - it's a dynamic, evolving strategy that integrates daily routines, medical needs, emotional well-being, personal values, and spiritual guidance. Action Steps:
Assemble your care team:
Identify key players - family, clinicians, spiritual advisors - and open channels of communication.
Document core values:
In one page, list what matters most - comfort priorities, religious practices, and daily joys.
Define triggers and responses:
Specify what calms or upsets your loved one, and when to escalate care, call the doctor, or initiate comfort measures.
2. Create weekly check-in rituals
Intentional care requires consistent attention. A 15-minute weekly check-in - whether over dinner or a video call - can flag concerns early, track changes, and prevent small issues from becoming emergencies.
3. Build a resilient 'Circle of Care'
Care is never a solo act. At Evercare, we help formalise your 'Circle of Care' - your core group of family, professionals, and supporters - and equip it with shared tools:
Shared calendar:
Use Google/Outlook Calendar or a wall chart to co-ordinate appointments, script refills, and respite care.
Digital safe:
Store key documents (care plan, advance directive, living will, Power of Attorney) in a shared cloud folder
WhatsApp Group:
Set up a real-time messaging group for updates, alerts, and team check-ins.
4. Support the caregivers, too
Behind every successful care journey is someone holding it all together. Without support, even the strongest caregivers can burn out. As a resolution, commit to:
Scheduled respite:
Reserve two hours weekly for personal recharge - non-negotiable.
Professional support:
Even a single hour a month with a nurse, carer, or counsellor makes a difference.
Emotional debriefing:
Ensure caregivers have safe spaces to check-in, process and release.
5. Build a system, not a patchwork plan
Ad hoc care creates gaps - and gaps can be dangerous. Sustainable care demands structure.
Assign a care co-ordinator:
This person ensures follow-ups happen, records are up to date, and clinicians are informed. If no one can lead, divide the role among the family - one for finance, one for medical, one for logistics.
Quarterly care plan audits:
Every three months, revisit the care plan. Update it for changing needs, new preferences, or emerging treatments.
To care is to plan
This Rosh Hashanah, let your care be an act of intention - not reaction. Build systems that hold, rituals that anchor, and plans that speak when you cannot.
Because when we plan with love, we care with confidence. There is no greater mitzvah than showing up for the people we love - with presence, with purpose, and with a plan.