A plan for a fall should be sized to the house and the people who live in it, not to a list of services. Start with three maps: the house, the people, and the hours. When all three sit on one page, the gaps show up, and the gaps decide whether you need a standing person, a set check-in, a device, a neighbor, or a different arrangement entirely.
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 the house
Draw the floors your father uses. Mark where he sleeps, where the bathroom is, where the kitchen and the phone are, and how many steps separate each of them. Note the spots where a fall would leave him on the floor with no quick way to reach a phone. Draw the path a helper would take from the front or side door to his bed, and walk that path yourself while timing it. The house sets the minimum response time, because a helper who has to climb stairs and cross a hallway is on a different plan than one who is already in the room.
Map the people
List everyone who could respond: you, siblings, a neighbor, a hired helper, a faith group, anyone with a key. Next to each name, write how long it takes that person to reach the house from where they usually are, and when they are free. Be honest about people who work long shifts or live far away. A name on the list only counts if that person agrees to it and can actually answer a call.
Map the empty hours
Draw the week as a grid. Shade each block when nobody on the list is in reach, including overnight, early weekday mornings, and weekend evenings when family may be away. The shaded blocks are the sizing problem. A plan that covers the daytime and leaves the overnight open is not finished, even if the paper looks full.
Test the plan before you trust it
Pick a few random times in the next week and call your father at each one. Time how long it takes the nearest person on your list to get to his bed, starting from the call. Compare that number with the shaded blocks. If the gap is larger than the plan can cover, change the plan before a fall tests it for you. The goal is a helper who can arrive in the time you need, and that is a fit question, not a question of which service sounds best on the phone.
Ask his doctor about the cause
A fall can have a cause that no amount of coverage fixes, so ask his doctor what happened and what the doctor wants checked. The answer may change which hours need coverage and what shape the plan should take. The doctor decides the medical side. Your job is to bring the grid and the timed numbers to that appointment.
The next move
Tonight, draw the grid on one sheet of paper, shade every block with no one in reach, and call the one person on your list whose answer you have not confirmed. Then look over the options on Local Help in St. Louis for any shaded blocks you cannot fill yourself.