One-handed home support roster for families

When a parent is down to one usable hand or arm — a cast, a sling, a sprain, whatever the cause — a surprising number of ordinary tasks suddenly need another set of hands. Getting dressed, showering, cutting food, opening jars, and driving can all be affected — check what your parent's own instructions say about driving and mobility aids, and copy that into the roster below rather than assuming. If no one has mapped out who covers what, it can fall entirely on whoever happens to be around, or not get covered at all.

This page is a free roster for assigning a named helper and a time to each daily-living task while your parent has limited use of one arm. It's diagnosis-agnostic — the same roster works whether the cause is a wrist fracture, a shoulder surgery, or anything else your parent's clinician has told you will pass with time.

This article is educational and is not medical advice. What your parent can and can't safely do with the affected hand or arm — and for how long — comes from their own clinician's instructions. This roster is a place to track who's helping with what, not a source of guidance on technique or recovery.

What this roster covers and what it does not

• A named helper and timing for each daily-living task — dressing, bathing, meals, household tasks, and transport
• Which hand or arm is affected, and any existing mobility aid your parent uses that the limitation might complicate — check what the care team said about using it one-handed and copy that here
• The return-to-normal-use date, copied from your parent's own instructions — not a Sagebeam-authored timeline

What this roster deliberately leaves out: it does not teach one-handed technique, does not set exercises or a rehab program, and does not interpret how the injury or recovery is going. Those are occupational therapy and clinical decisions. If your parent's care team gave you a one-handed-activities guide, use it alongside this roster — this page only tracks who's covering what.

For general information on adapting daily tasks to one hand, see the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital's patient guide to completing activities of daily living with one hand — for technique specific to your parent's situation, follow their own occupational therapist's instructions.

The home support roster

Copy this into a shared document, or print it and post it somewhere visible — the refrigerator or a binder everyone checks.

ONE-HANDED HOME SUPPORT ROSTER

Person needing support: _____________________________________________
Which hand/arm is affected: _________________________________________
Cause (cast, sling, other — for your own reference): ________________
Expected return to normal use (per clinician's instructions, or "not yet known"): _____

Existing mobility aid affected (walker, cane — note the conflict if any): ____

DRESSING
  Task detail: ______________________________________________________
  Named helper: _____________  Timing (e.g., mornings, before work): ____
  Backup helper: ____________________________________________________

BATHING / SHOWERING
  Task detail: ______________________________________________________
  Named helper: _____________  Timing: ______________________________
  Backup helper: ____________________________________________________

MEALS (prep, cutting food, eating)
  Task detail: ______________________________________________________
  Named helper: _____________  Timing (which meals): ________________
  Backup helper: ____________________________________________________

HOUSEHOLD TASKS (laundry, cleaning, opening jars/packages, mail, pet care)
  Task detail: ______________________________________________________
  Named helper: _____________  Timing (which days): _________________
  Backup helper: ____________________________________________________

TRANSPORT / ERRANDS (driving, grocery runs, pharmacy pickup)
  Task detail: ______________________________________________________
  Named helper: _____________  Timing: ______________________________
  Backup helper: ____________________________________________________

PERSONAL CARE / GROOMING (hair, shaving, nails)
  Task detail: ______________________________________________________
  Named helper: _____________  Timing: ______________________________
  Backup helper: ____________________________________________________

MEDICATION HANDLING (opening bottles, sorting a pill organizer)
  Note: ask the pharmacist about easy-open packaging if bottles are a
  problem with one hand.
  Named helper: _____________  Timing: ______________________________

OPEN ROWS (tasks with no helper assigned yet)
- Task: ___________________  Who's being asked: ___________________
- Task: ___________________  Who's being asked: ___________________

WEEKLY REVIEW
- Rows still open: _________________________________________________
- Anything the clinician changed at the last visit: ________________

How to fill it in

• Start from what your parent's instructions actually restrict, not from assumptions. Some limitations rule out lifting or gripping but leave most other tasks fine; others are more restrictive. Copy the specifics from what the clinician told you.
• Name a real person for each task, not "family." "Someone will help with dinner" is how dinner doesn't happen. "Jamie, weeknights" is a plan.
• Give every task a backup, even an imperfect one — a paid caregiver, a neighbor, or a delivery service for the tasks with no family member nearby.
• Leave gaps visible. An open row you can see is easier to fill than a task nobody remembered to assign.

How to adapt this to your situation

If your parent lives alone. Note which tasks are hardest for YOUR parent to do solo with one hand — list them on the roster — and consider whether a short-term paid caregiver or home-health aide should cover the gaps a family roster can't.

If more than one family member is helping. Post the roster somewhere everyone checks, and assign one person to do the weekly review so gaps don't sit unnoticed for days.

If your parent also uses a walker or cane. Note the conflict at the top of the roster — a limitation to one hand can make a walker harder to use safely, and that's worth flagging to the care team, not solving on your own.

If the limitation turns out to last longer than expected. Update the "expected return to normal use" field from your parent's next follow-up visit rather than guessing — recovery timelines are the clinician's call, not something this roster predicts.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Assuming someone else has it covered. A task everyone assumed a sibling or the other parent was handling can end up covered by no one. Naming a specific person for every row closes that gap.

Only planning for the first few days. A cast or sling can outlast the first wave of family attention. Set the weekly review as a standing habit, not a one-time setup.

Skipping the backup column. Life happens — the named helper gets sick or has a work conflict. A written backup means the task still gets covered without a scramble.

Treating this as a rehab plan. This roster is about who helps with what, not about how your parent should be using the affected hand. Technique and exercises belong to occupational therapy, not this page.

Related planning steps

• Caregiving task delegation framework for families — for assigning tasks with a clear definition of done across the wider family
• Family caregiving roles and responsibilities guide — if you're still deciding who owns what more broadly
• Caregiver daily log template for families — for tracking day-to-day details beyond this roster's scope