Helping friend struggling with transitioning parents

[twowhat?]

I have a friend who is in the thick of transitioning her parents to assisted living/memory care housing. She has all the details worked out, movers scheduled, people scheduled to help deal with the "stuff" in terms of estate sale vs getting rid of it, etc. But I am feeling so bad for her because she's had to manage this all herself, she is exhausted. She has had to take weeks of time off of work. Her DH I doubt is helping much, he historically has not been helpful when it comes to this kind of load and he carries on with his own job and hobbies while she manages everything else on top of her FT job. Her parents have had some health issues in between, necessitating hospital care, rehab, etc. She has 3 kids and is also managing all the covid stuff with having to test/quarantine!!! We're not mixing households because of this surge, but I really would love to send her something self-care related. You know, for HER only, because she's the one sacrificing basically herself to take care of other people all the time, and I know she's not taking care of herself because there's not enough time. I just don't know what to send her that would make the whole thing a little better when really she just needs SLEEP. Any ideas?

Maybe a meal prep type thing for a week? I don't even know what's been good nowadays - Hello Fresh? Has anyone used something like this that would give her a break during the week in terms of prepping meals? Even if she still has to assemble/cook, I imagine this would save her a lot of time with meal planning + grocery shopping, etc. I am willing to spend $$. They're a family of 5.

[dogmom]

Short term I would lean more to a few completely prepared meals. Whether that a gift card to nearby restaurant she can get delivery from, a door dash gift card, or a mail order meal place. I think Home Chef has a prepared meal option that you just put in an oven. Long term I would promise to take her away for a weekend once the transition is done so she has something to look forward to.

[gatorsmom]

How old are her kids? I know you said you aren’t mingling but if any of your kids are old enough and healthy, could they babysit on the weekends? Do driving to practices and activities for the mom? If you have a cleaning lady you like, could you pay her to clean their house? Or if they have a cleaning lady they like pay her a bit extra to do their laundry? Help with cleaning the parents’ house? Maybe send an email to the husband pointing out how much his wife is struggling. Sometimes men are so blind to that sort of thing. They just need to be told to help. Both my dad and Dh are very willing to help and take care of things they just don’t think of it. They need to be told what to do.

What about organizing a mealtrain with friends? Maybe one that lasts a few weeks. Knowing your meals are covered for a month is a huge load off the mind. A meal brought every other day or every 2 days makes a big difference.

[candaceb]

I think the mealtrain is a good idea - I have found that the dinner kits are more work than I'd want to put in during a time like you describe.
If your friend wants to offload any of the duties, she might look to see if there is a Senior Move Manager in your area.
https://www.nasmm.org/find-a-move-manager/