Home care lets an older adult stay in their own home with the right support in place, instead of moving before they need to. It covers everything from a few hours of help a week to round-the-clock care, and it can start within days.

Call 1-888-507-6236 any time, or book a free care consultation. Help Now Healthcare provides home care across Ontario — find your community here.

When home care usually starts

Most families do not plan for this. They call after something changes. Home care may be the right step if your loved one:

  • Has had a fall, or is unsteady on stairs
  • Is being discharged from hospital and cannot manage alone at first
  • Is skipping meals, or living on toast and tea
  • Is forgetting medication, or taking it twice
  • Is showing memory changes that make being alone unsafe
  • Is isolated and going days without seeing anyone
  • Is waiting for a long-term care placement
  • Is being cared for by a family member who is exhausted

What home care includes

Care at home comes in three levels, and they are delivered by different people with different training. We set them out separately because the difference matters — to what care costs, and to what is safe and lawful for a given worker to do.

The three levels of care at home

Read left to right as increasing clinical training, not as a path everyone follows. Many families only ever need the first level, and some need two levels at once — a support worker on weekdays and a nurse once a fortnight. Occupational therapy, physiotherapy and social work sit alongside any of the three.

Companion & home supportSupport workers
Personal carePersonal Support Workers
Nursing careRNs & RPNs
Household & companyRegulated clinical care

Why the difference matters. It decides what care costs, and it decides what is safe and lawful for a given worker to do. A support worker cannot give an injection; a Personal Support Worker cannot administer medication. Where a task is a controlled act under Ontario law, it is carried out by a nurse, on an order. If you are not sure which level you need, that is what the free consultation is for — we talk it through and tell you, including when the answer is a lower level than you expected.

Support workers

Companion and home support

The help that keeps a household running and stops someone spending the day alone. This is where most families start, and often all that is needed for a long time.

  • Companionship and regular check-ins
  • Meal preparation and light housekeeping
  • Errands, shopping and escort to appointments
Personal Support Workers

Personal care

Hands-on help with the parts of the day that have become difficult or unsafe to manage alone. Delivered by trained and screened Personal Support Workers.

  • Bathing, dressing, grooming and toileting
  • Transfers, positioning and mobility support
  • Feeding assistance and basic skin care
  • Medication reminders
  • Monitoring and reporting changes in condition
Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses & Registered Practical Nurses

Nursing care at home

Clinical care delivered in the home by regulated nursing staff. This is what allows someone to stay home with needs that would otherwise mean a clinic visit or an admission.

  • Nursing assessment and care planning
  • Nurse Practitioner visits — assessment, diagnosis and prescribing, where a home visit avoids a clinic trip
  • Medication administration and injections
  • Wound care
  • Nursing foot care and diabetic foot assessment
  • IV therapy and infusion

Who delivers this, and on whose authority. These services are provided only by Registered Nurses and Registered Practical Nurses registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario. Several — administering a substance by injection, and procedures below the dermis such as some wound and foot care — are controlled acts under the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 and are performed on a physician’s or nurse practitioner’s order. Personal Support Workers are not nurses and do not perform these acts.

Regulated allied health professionals

Therapy, nutrition and respiratory care at home

Regulated professionals who work alongside any of the levels above rather than replacing them. They are usually what turns a safe home into one someone can actually recover and stay independent in. We bring in whichever of them the assessment calls for, rather than all of them by default.

Occupational therapyMaking the home work

Home safety and falls assessment, equipment and adaptations, and rebuilding the daily activities someone has lost after an illness, injury or hospital stay.

PhysiotherapyMovement and strength

Mobility, strength and balance work, and rehabilitation after surgery, a stroke, a fall or an injury — delivered in the home rather than at a clinic.

Social workThe rest of the picture

Counselling and emotional support, help navigating services and benefits, caregiver strain, and the family conversations that come with a change in care.

Speech-language pathologySwallowing and speech

Assessment and treatment of swallowing difficulty, and of the speech and communication changes that follow a stroke or come with a progressive condition.

DieteticsEating well enough to recover

Diabetes and heart-condition management, unintended weight loss, texture-modified diets where swallowing is unsafe, and tube-feeding support.

Respiratory therapyBreathing support at home

Home oxygen, CPAP and BiPAP, tracheostomy and ventilator care, and managing COPD so that a flare-up does not automatically mean an emergency department.

  • Rehabilitation and therapy assistants working to a therapist’s plan
  • Assessment and treatment reports for your family or your insurer

Registration is verified before anyone is assigned. Occupational therapist, physiotherapist, speech-language pathologist, dietitian, respiratory therapist and social worker are all protected titles in Ontario. We use them only for people registered with the relevant College — the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario, the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario, the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario, the College of Dietitians of Ontario, the College of Respiratory Therapists of Ontario, or the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers — and we confirm the registration is current before the assignment begins. Therapy at home is often funded through an auto insurance claim after a motor vehicle accident, or through extended health benefits — we can bill an approved insurer directly where your policy allows it.

Care built around a particular situation

Most families arrive here because of one specific thing that has happened. These pages go into what changes in each case — what tends to be difficult, who provides the care, and what to ask for before you pay for anything.

How much does home care cost in Ontario?

Cost depends on three things: how many hours, what level of care, and when those hours fall. Common arrangements are:

  • A few hours per visit for light support
  • Daily visits for personal care, meals and supervision
  • Overnight care for evening and night-time support
  • 24-hour care where continuous supervision is needed

Rather than quoting a rate that will not match your situation, we will build a care plan around what your family actually needs and tell you what it costs before anything starts. Call 1-888-507-6236 for a free consultation.

Public versus private home care in Ontario

Some seniors qualify for publicly funded home care through Ontario Health atHome — which may include PSW support, nursing visits, therapy or care coordination, depending on eligibility and assessed need.

Publicly funded care is real and worth pursuing. It is also frequently limited in:

  • Number of hours approved
  • Scheduling flexibility
  • How soon it can start
  • Consistency of caregiver
  • Availability in your area

Families typically add private care when they need more hours, a faster start, more consistent scheduling, or support while waiting for long-term care. The two work together — private care is often used to fill the gaps around a publicly funded plan, not to replace it.

How to get started

One phone call. We talk through what is happening at home, what would genuinely help, and what it would cost. There is no charge for the consultation and no obligation afterwards — including if the honest answer is that you need less than you feared.

1-888-507-6236 — available day and night. Or book a consultation online.

Transportation and escort support → — appointments, groceries, pharmacy and errands, with the caregiver staying with the person throughout.

Related

Home care by location across Ontario · Specialized care · Care scenarios · Frequently asked questions · Where to start

Further reading

Longer pieces on the questions families and managers ask us most.

A carer helping an older person from a chair

If this is a medical emergency

Call 911 immediately. Do not wait for a call back from us.

For urgent care needs that are not an emergency, call us on 1-888-507-6236 — a person will pick up, and we can usually move faster than a form allows.

Home care across the Greater Toronto Area

Our deepest coverage is in the Greater Toronto Area. Choose your city: Toronto, North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, East York, Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Thornhill, Oakville, Burlington, Milton, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Newmarket, Aurora. If your city is not listed, see all the places we serve or call 1-888-507-6236.

Looking for help with a particular condition?

Stroke, Parkinson’s, dementia, cancer, MS, diabetes, autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, a new hip — we have written a page for each, covering children and adults, and each one says plainly which parts of the care need a nurse rather than a support worker.

Browse care by condition