Personally, I'd only get someone else involved with my reef if I was going to be away longer than 2 weeks. It's just not possible to educate a non-reef person and get them up to speed quickly. Someone that doesn't know your system can easily cause more harm than good.
I do like the ideas of extra RO/DI water, and if you do need someone in to feed, making up single feeding "pucks".
Giving an inexperienced person the phone number of an LFS is, in my opinion, looking for a stomping. All to often the advice is bad. A reef keeping friend would be good though. Also, if they did see something wrong, they can often email or call you, depending upon where you are and what your doing.
Controllers can monitor a lot, but not everyone has one, or can afford to spend the money. I like the idea, but not the cost involved.