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When you’re caring for someone
For anyone in the United States looking after a parent, a partner, a relative or a friend who is older, ill or disabled. Where to start, who helps caregivers near them, how to get a break, what Medicare does and doesn’t pay for, how to keep your job, the papers to have in order, and the words to say when you call. You count in this too. One thing at a time.
Right now
- Someone is in danger or badly hurt? Call 911.
- Don’t know where to begin? Call or text the Eldercare Locator, 1-800-677-1116.
- A dementia question that can’t wait? The Alzheimer’s Association Helpline, 1-800-272-3900, any hour.
- At the end of your rope? Call or text 988, any hour.
More help
- An appointment coming up, theirs or yours? Appointment prep.
- A doctor without insurance? When you need a doctor and can’t pay.
- Bills, benefits and collectors? When the money runs out.
- Not enough food in the house? When you need food.
- A power of attorney, a guardianship, a benefits denial? When you need a lawyer and can’t pay.
- A call or a letter asking them for money? Is this a scam?
- Worried they may hurt themselves? Worried about someone.
- They are dying, or have died? When someone has died.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from the government’s own pages (the Eldercare Locator and the Administration for Community Living, USAGov, the National Institute on Aging and Alzheimers.gov, Medicare.gov, the Department of Labor, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security, the Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) and from the sites of the Alzheimer’s Association, the State Health Insurance Assistance Programs, the National Adult Protective Services Association and the National Consumer Voice. The phone numbers were checked on those pages on October 1, 2026. Programs change, and most of them are run state by state, so check with the office where the person lives. Where we could not confirm something, such as a helpline’s hours, how much a program pays, or which states have paid family leave, the page says to ask and does not guess. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a government agency, a care provider or a law office. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].