FREE FIELD GUIDE / COMMUNITY / ORIGINAL GUIDE & AGREEMENT SHEET
Make a small neighbor-support agreement with clear boundaries
Agree on realistic help, privacy and backups without promising rescue or access you cannot provide.
Begin with a conversation and consent
Ask whether the people involved want a simple mutual-support arrangement and what help would be useful. Do not assume that living nearby creates permission to enter a home, share private information or take responsibility for someone else's care. Keep participation voluntary and the scope small enough to understand. The agreement should support ordinary planning, not create a promise of professional rescue or medical assistance. If a person needs a formal care or support service, help them identify the appropriate organization rather than substituting an informal arrangement that cannot meet those needs.
Define the actual tasks
Use specific, bounded descriptions: passing along a confirmed update, helping locate the household contact card or assisting with an agreed ordinary transport arrangement when conditions allow. Record what each person can and cannot do. Avoid vague statements such as 'we will handle everything' that conceal major assumptions. Do not assign hazardous entry, electrical work, medical procedures or travel through a closed area to an untrained neighbor. Clarify that official directions and immediate safety take priority. A useful agreement makes the limits visible so people can build a backup instead of discovering an impossible promise during an event.
Choose how a check-in will work
Agree on the ordinary contact method, what information may be relayed and what to do if no response is received. Keep the process compatible with the methods the participants actually have and understand. This worksheet does not create mesh, radio, Bluetooth or other messaging capability in the app. A missed message can have many explanations; do not treat it as proof of a specific emergency or permission for unsafe entry. Where an urgent concern arises, use the locally appropriate assistance process. Record the agreed escalation contacts without inventing a universal response time.
Share the minimum useful information
Decide which names, contact details and practical access needs are necessary for the agreed role. Ask permission before passing information to others. Keep passwords, full identity documents and private medical histories out of an informal neighborhood sheet. If a key or other access arrangement is genuinely needed, handle it through an appropriate separate secure process and make sure the boundaries are understood. Do not publish it on a community board or group message. Review who holds copies so outdated information does not continue circulating after someone moves or withdraws from the arrangement.
Identify a backup and a stopping point
A neighbor may be away, affected by the same event or unable to travel safely. Record an alternative contact or service rather than assuming the nearest person will always be available. State when an agreed task must stop, such as when a route is closed or a situation exceeds the person's training and ability. Keep a participant's own household responsibilities visible. An arrangement that requires one person to abandon their care obligations is unlikely to be dependable. Resolve unrealistic expectations during preparation, when the conversation can be calm and specific.
Review it through an ordinary example
Walk through a low-stress example together without creating a false emergency or calling emergency services as a test. Ask each participant to describe their task, the information they may share and the point where they would seek appropriate help. Correct misunderstandings in the written version. Review after changes in address, contact details, care needs or availability. Allow people to change or withdraw their role and update the copies accordingly. The agreement is useful when it reflects current consent and actual capability, not merely because several signatures appear on an old sheet.
Support agreement worksheet
Participants / consent confirmed on: __________________ Task / person / limits: __________________ Contact and check-in arrangement: __________________ Information permitted to share: __________________ Separate secure access arrangement, if any: __________________ Backup contact or appropriate service: __________________ Stop or escalation conditions: __________________ Copies held by / next review: __________________