Personal care at home, with patience and dignity
Help with bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting and moving around the home, from a caregiver matched to your family. Paid through Alberta's Client Directed Home Care Invoicing (CDHCI) for approved hours, privately, or both.
Phones answered 24/7. A coordinator calls back within the hour, day or night.
What personal care includes
Hands-on help with the daily tasks that have become hard to manage alone. It's practical help, not nursing care.
- Bathing and showering. Help getting washed, at a comfortable pace, with respect for privacy.
- Dressing. Choosing clothes, getting dressed in the morning and changed for bed.
- Grooming. Hair, shaving, and caring for teeth or dentures.
- Toileting. Help getting to and using the bathroom, calmly and discreetly.
- Mobility. Getting in and out of bed or a chair, and moving around the home.
- Help with eating. Support at mealtimes, when it's part of your care plan.
- Home exercises. Help with exercises already in your care plan.
- Medication reminders. Prompts to take medication on time. Reminders only, not giving medication. See medication reminders.
Who personal care helps
Personal care suits someone who wants to stay at home but finds parts of the day harder than before. Maybe your mom skips showers because the tub worries her, or your dad needs a hand getting up from his chair.
Families often call when a parent is coming home after a hospital stay. Others call when a spouse doing all the caring needs support, or when memory changes make routines harder. See also dementia and memory care, or respite and overnight care if a family caregiver needs a break.
Because this care is so personal, the match matters. We match caregivers by personality, language, schedule and need. Our caregivers speak many languages, including Tagalog, Punjabi, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic and French. Every caregiver is interviewed in person, reference-checked, criminal-record-checked and trained before joining. If the match isn't right, we re-match at no extra cost.
What a visit looks like
Before the first visit
We go over the care plan with you, and what matters to your mom: how she likes her morning, what she'd rather do herself. Her plan and preferences are kept on file. On CDHCI, please share her approval letter and care plan with us.
Every visit is confirmed
The same coordinator knows your mom, her caregiver and your family, and confirms every visit. Visits are at least 2 hours, so there's time to do things properly.
During the visit
The caregiver follows the care plan at her pace. Your mom directs the visit within that plan, or you do if she's asked you to. Skip the shower today? The caregiver can help with other personal care in the plan instead, like dressing or help with eating.
Behind the scenes
Each morning, our care-coordination system checks the upcoming schedule and flags problems, like a visit with no caregiver assigned. The office fixes them before the visit, not after. If her caregiver is away, a backup works from the same plan, not from scratch.
If your mom goes into hospital
Visits are paused. The office sets a reminder to check in with you, so care can restart smoothly when she's home. On CDHCI, let her case manager know she's in hospital. The case manager confirms CDHCI again before visits restart.
How personal care is paid for
Client-directed home care (CDHCI). This is the Alberta home care option where you choose who provides your approved care. A home care case manager with Assisted Living Alberta (formerly AHS Home Care) assesses your needs and approves your hours. The case manager also decides whether client-directed care suits you. If personal care is in your approved care plan, you can choose #1 Right Care. As a registered CDHCI provider, we invoice Alberta Blue Cross directly for the approved hours we deliver. You aren't invoiced for those hours, and you get a copy of every claim statement.
On CDHCI, the care must be in your approved plan, and each type of care has its own approved hours. Homemaking, like laundry, counts only if it's in the plan, and only alongside personal care or respite, never on its own. The person getting care must be home for the visit. We record the time for each type of care, as the program requires.
You or your family talk to the case manager yourselves. We don't contact the case manager for you, attend the assessment or guess your hours. We'll explain beforehand what to ask. Our client-directed home care guide covers the steps and lists each area's home care intake line.
Private pay. Private care is available on its own or on top of approved CDHCI hours. You might use it for more hours than were approved, for care the plan doesn't include, or while you wait for an assessment. You get a written quote before any care starts. There's no extra charge for evenings, weekends or holidays, and we invoice you for private hours.
Every visit is at least 2 hours, on CDHCI and private pay. The program doesn't add hours to meet a visit minimum. If the approved plan has shorter visits, call us. We'll work out a schedule with you and put any cost in writing before care starts. See home care costs for how visits and scheduling work.
Where we provide personal care
Four Alberta areas. Outside these? Call us at 587.443.1888. We may still be able to help.
Calgary
Personal care in all quadrants of Calgary and the surrounding area.
Edmonton
Personal care in Edmonton's inner city and suburbs.
Red Deer
Personal care in Red Deer and central Alberta.
Lethbridge
Personal care in Lethbridge and southern Alberta.
Common questions
Is personal care covered on client-directed home care (CDHCI)?
Can the caregiver give my dad his medication?
Will my mom see the same caregiver each time?
What if my mom doesn't want help with bathing?
Do we need an assessment first?
Talk to a coordinator about personal care
Call 587.443.1888 any time. Our phones are answered 24/7. Or use the request form, and a coordinator will call you back within the hour, day or night.