My mom just broke her hip. What do we do now?

Your first job: the next 48 hours

Right now you are the person who holds the information, so start there. The medical team moves fast on a hip fracture, and a few small things from you change how well it goes.

• Bring her medication list, or just the pill bottles in a bag. Blood thinners directly affect when surgery can happen.
• Tell the team who she was last week. Walking on her own? Living alone? That drives every decision.
• Pick one family point person for the team. Everyone else gets updates from that person.
• Ask two questions: "What's the timing for surgery?" and "How will you manage her pain?" (A nerve block, a numbing injection, is one common option that uses fewer opioids.)

Why the timing matters. Guidelines call for surgery within 24 to 48 hours, because the days spent lying in bed are what cause the real trouble: clots, pneumonia, and losing strength. Some delays are legitimate, like letting a blood thinner wear off. What you want is a specific reason and a target time, not "the OR is full."

In the hospital: things to consider

Surgery takes an hour or a few, and a blood transfusion is common and not a bad sign. The usual pattern is up and taking assisted steps the day after surgery, then therapy every day.

One thing families often notice before staff do: delirium, a sudden, fluctuating confusion that affects about one in three older hip-fracture patients. It often looks quiet: sleepy, withdrawn, "not herself," worse in the evening. It's usually temporary. Familiar things seem to help (glasses on, hearing aids in, a familiar face, a clock in view), and you can tell the nurse when she seems off, since you know her baseline and they don't.

Before she leaves, get these

• A written med list you've personally compared against her old one. Mix-ups at discharge are a top cause of readmission.
• A clear statement of what she can do (walk with a walker? climb stairs?).
• A bone-health plan. A hip broken in a simple fall usually means osteoporosis, and most patients never get treated for it. Ask who is managing it.

Rehab or home?

This is the decision families are least ready for, and it comes fast. A hospital discharge planner proposes options and you decide. By federal rule they must give you a list of facilities with quality data and can't steer your choice. The two most common paths:

A stronger, younger patient may qualify for an inpatient rehab facility (about 3 hours of therapy a day). If she was vigorous before the fall, it's worth asking whether that's on the table. Whichever path, your job is continuity: the medication list and the care plan have to travel across every handoff, because the system won't carry them for you. This is exactly what Greenlue holds together, so you're not the filing cabinet.

Coming home, and the months ahead

The hospital part is short. Recovery is the long game, and this is where your role really is. Here's the job, as a checklist.

Set up the home first

• A bed on the main floor near a bathroom; throw rugs gone, cords taped, nightlights on the path.
• Real grab bars (towel bars rip out of the wall), a raised toilet seat, a shower chair.
• The walker is covered equipment through the discharge planner; the bathroom gear you buy (budget a few hundred dollars).

Sort the paperwork (while she still has capacity)

• A healthcare proxy, a financial power of attorney, and a HIPAA authorization (free forms: AARP, CaringInfo).
• Keep those, the discharge papers, and her records in one place the family can reach. That's what Greenlue holds, so there's no binder to carry around.

Know what to watch for

Here's what MedlinePlus (the NIH's health service) says to contact the surgeon about after a hip fracture:

These are general signs from a national source. Her care team may give you a different list for her situation, so go by what they tell you, and call 911 for any emergency.

Her recovery, day to day

• Mostly walking practice and rest: a walker for the first weeks, often a cane by weeks 6 to 12, most walking back by about six months.
• Her physical therapist sets the exercise plan. The biggest help is that she keeps doing it, including the "homework," within what the therapist okays (never through pain).
• Keep every therapy session and appointment, and ask her team about eating well and protein for healing.
• Watch for low mood or a fear of falling and mention it early. Deep fatigue at first is normal.

What she'll need from you, and protecting yourself

• Rides to therapy, keeping meds straight, meals, and steady encouragement.
• Visiting: you don't have to be there every minute, but presence matters, especially in rehab. Pick a rhythm you can sustain.
• Split roles with siblings: one on the medical side, one on paperwork, a shared calendar.
• Use FMLA if you work (up to 12 weeks, job-protected, a few hours at a time), and treat your own sleep as part of her care plan.

Nearly all of it is coordination

Which is exactly what Greenlue carries with you:

Common questions