Caring for ageing parents’ health, even from another city

Many of us live in a different city, or country, from our parents. Their health doesn’t pause because we’re far away. The doctors, tablets and reports build up, and a phone call every evening isn’t always enough to keep track.

This guide is about the practical side: papers, medicines and people. It doesn’t replace their doctor’s advice, and it doesn’t ask you to move.

Start with one page

Sit down with your parents, in person or on a video call, and fill in one page for each of them:

• their doctors: name, specialty, clinic and phone number;
• their medicines: name, strength, when they take it, and what it’s for, as the prescription says;
• their conditions and any allergies, as their doctor has told them;
• an emergency contact nearby, such as a neighbour, a relative or a family doctor.

You can use our free medicine list. Put a copy in their wallet, one on their fridge or notice board, and one on your phone.

Ask for a photo after every visit

This is the habit that makes the biggest difference. After each doctor’s visit, ask your parent, or whoever goes with them, to send a photo of:

• the new prescription;
• any lab reports or scans;
• any discharge summary.

A WhatsApp photo is enough. Save each one in a folder named for them on your phone. If they find it hard, ask a sibling, a relative or a neighbour to help, or a helper they trust.

Keep their records in one place

Keep your parents’ papers in two places: the originals at their home in a folder with their name, and photos on your phone, sorted by person and type. When a new doctor asks for the history, you can answer from your phone, even from another city.

When you visit

Use a visit as a project, not just a holiday:

1. Photograph every paper in the folder at home that you don’t yet have.
2. Check the medicine list against the boxes in the cupboard. Notice anything that’s out of date.
3. Go with them to an appointment if you can, and bring the checklist. Our doctor visit checklist helps.
4. Agree who will call whom if there’s an emergency.

Between visits

• Call at a regular time, and ask about the day, not just “are you taking your medicines?”.
• Ask them to read you the medicine list now and then, so you both know it’s current.
• Keep the family doctor’s number handy.

Respect their privacy

These are your parents’ records. Ask permission before you collect, keep or share them, and tell them where they are kept and why. Many parents are happy to be helped, but it’s their health and their decision.

Where Kinsu fits

In Kinsu you can add your mother and father and keep their prescriptions, reports and scans on your phone, labelled with their name. Everything stays on your phone, encrypted, and your parents don’t need the app or a smartphone for you to keep their file.

Kinsu doesn’t sync between phones, and it can’t alert you if a parent misses a medicine. It doesn’t share records with your brother or sister yet. Until sharing arrives, the photo-after-every-visit habit does the work.

When it’s urgent

If your parent is seriously unwell, don’t wait for an app or a message. Call their doctor or the emergency number, 112.