Most backup plans fail for one reason: they were written as a general wish instead of a list of specific hours. The useful version starts with your actual week, not your ideal one. Find the hours that you are the only one covering, then decide what fits each of them.
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.
Map your week hour by hour
Draw a simple grid with the days across the top and the hours down the side. Mark every hour where your parent needs someone present, every hour you need to sleep, every appointment, and every errand that cannot wait. Mark who is in the home during each block. The blank spaces with no name in them are your real gaps.
Sort the gaps by kind
Not every gap needs the same kind of cover. A one-hour appointment can go to a family member with a specific task. A recurring evening may need a paid non-medical caregiver for set shifts. A planned week away may need a respite stay. A sudden emergency at 3 in the afternoon may need a neighbor on a short list. Label each gap with the kind of help it needs, and do not assign the same person to every category.
Check whether each person fits the task
For each name, ask whether they can physically do the task, whether they can stay the length you need, whether they can handle the parent's current needs, and whether your parent is comfortable with them. A person who is kind but cannot lift, or cannot stay past two hours, is not backup for an overnight.
Set the boundaries for paid helpers
A paid non-medical caregiver may give medication reminders and pick up prescriptions as an errand. Medicine handling stays with the family, the doctor and the pharmacist. Write that line on the plan so that every helper knows it, and so that you are not surprised by what someone has or has not done.
Put it on one sheet
Write each person's name, phone number, the hours they cover, the task they do, and what they need to know to do it. Include the parent's doctor, the pharmacy, the location of the emergency information the family keeps, and the name of the person to call first if the plan breaks. Keep the sheet where any helper can find it without calling you.
Test one gap before you need it
Pick the smallest gap on the sheet and run it for an hour while you are home but out of the room. See whether the person arrives on time, knows the routine, and can reach you if needed. A plan that has never been tested is only a list of hopes.