The route from bed to bathroom is only as clear as the worst night it has ever had. Walk it once with the lights on and look for what has crept onto it: the laundry basket waiting to go downstairs, the box of holiday decorations pushed against the closet wall, the extra chair that moved in during a visit and never left.
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.
Walk the six stops with a notepad
Start at the edge of the bed and go stop by stop: the floor beside the bed, the doorway, the hall, the bathroom threshold, and the spot in front of the toilet. At each one, write down anything that is not a fixed part of the house. Count the items. Note which ones sit at foot height, which ones block a hand reaching for a wall, and which ones she would have to step around in the dark.
Sort the items by who has to decide
Some clutter is easy to judge: a bag of old shoes, a stack of magazines, a box with no label. Other things are hers, and she needs to say yes or no to them. Mark those separately. A helper can move a chair out of the path, but should not be the one deciding what she keeps. If she cannot make that call right now, do only the easy items this weekend and leave the rest on a list for later.
Do it yourself when the load is light
If everything fits in one or two car trips and nothing is heavier than you can carry close to your body, do it yourself. Work on a bright morning, one stop at a time, and take items out of the house rather than parking them in the hall. Moving clutter into the hallway is the most common way a route gets worse while it is being cleaned. Keep your own footing clear as you work, and do not stack anything above shoulder height.
Hire it out when the load is heavy or spread out
Call a hauling service when the items are bulky, when they fill a room, when they need two people to lift, or when you do not have a vehicle that fits them. Before you book, get these answers in writing:
Whether they only remove what you point to, or whether they also sort. Whether they carry items from the bedroom to the curb or only move them inside the house. What happens to anything they find that is not clearly trash, and whether they will hold it for the family to decide. Whether they carry insurance that covers damage to walls, door frames and floors along the route. How long the visit will take and whether they can finish the whole route in one visit.
Compare two or three services on those answers, not only on the first estimate. A quote that leaves a pile in the hall still has a job left over for you.
Keep the route clear after the work is done
Set one rule that the whole household follows: nothing rests on the route. Give the laundry basket a home in the bathroom or the closet, not the hall. Name one person who walks the route each week and moves back anything that has drifted onto it. If the clearing shows you that she needs more help than the family can give, the local help after a fall in St. Louis page lists where to start asking.