Respite and overnight care, so you can rest
Respite means someone else takes over the caring for a while, so you can sleep, work or get away. A matched #1 Right Care caregiver looks after your family member at home: a few hours, a weekend, overnight or 24/7.
Phones answered 24/7. A coordinator calls back within the hour, day or night.
What respite & overnight care includes
From 2 hours to round-the-clock care. Your family member's routine carries on while you rest.
- A few hours. At least 2 hours, day or evening, so you can sleep, work or see a friend.
- A weekend. Care across a weekend while you go away, or just take a couple of days for yourself.
- Overnight presence. A caregiver in the home through the night, so your family member isn't alone and you can sleep.
- Awake-overnight care. A caregiver who stays awake all night, ready to help with the bathroom, a drink or settling back to bed.
- Full 24/7 care. Round-the-clock care at home, in all four of our service areas.
- Personal care. Help with bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting and getting around. More on personal care.
- Medication reminders. Reminders so the day stays on track. Caregivers remind; they don't give medication or do nursing care. More on medication reminders.
- Meals, tidying and company. Meal prep, light housekeeping and friendly conversation during the visit. On CDHCI, housekeeping counts only if it's in the approved plan.
- Calm routines for memory loss. For someone living with dementia, caregivers keep calm, familiar routines and gently steer attention away from upsetting moments. More on dementia and memory care.
Who it helps
Respite is for the person doing the caring. If you look after your mom, dad or spouse most days, you need time off too. A few regular hours each week give you room to breathe.
Overnight care suits families whose nights have become hard. Maybe your dad gets up in the dark and shouldn't be alone. Or you've slept with one ear open for months. A caregiver in the house overnight lets everyone rest.
It also helps when you have to be away for a trip or a family emergency. And if your family member needs someone there around the clock, 24/7 care means your family doesn't have to cover every hour. If the need is ongoing, see long-term care at home.
What a visit looks like
How it works, whether you need one evening or every night.
You call
Call 587.443.1888. Our phones are answered 24/7. A coordinator calls you back within the hour, day or night, and asks what kind of break you need.
We plan it with you
Your coordinator goes over the care plan with you: the routine, meals, bedtime and what matters most. On CDHCI, that's the plan your case manager approved. We keep the plan and your family member's preferences on file.
We match a caregiver
We match by personality, language, schedule and need. Every caregiver is interviewed in person, reference-checked, criminal-record-checked and trained before joining. If the fit isn't right, we re-match at no extra cost.
An evening and night, for example
The caregiver follows the plan. That might mean supper, a medication reminder and help getting ready for bed. Overnight, they stay in the home. With awake-overnight care, they're awake all night to help with the bathroom, a drink or settling back to bed. In the morning, they can help your family member get up and dressed.
The office keeps it steady
A coordinator confirms every visit. Each morning, our system checks the upcoming schedule for problems, like a visit with no caregiver assigned. The office fixes them before the visit. If a backup caregiver fills in for your usual one, they work from the same plan, not from scratch.
How it's paid for
There are two ways to arrange respite with us. You can use one or both.
Client Directed Home Care Invoicing (CDHCI). It's a publicly funded home care option where you choose the provider. A home care case manager from Assisted Living Alberta (formerly AHS Home Care) assesses your family member, approves the hours and decides whether client-directed care suits them. Respite is one type of care they can approve, and it can be day, evening or overnight. If client-directed care is approved and respite is in the care plan, you can choose #1 Right Care, a registered CDHCI provider, to deliver those hours. We invoice Alberta Blue Cross directly for the approved hours we deliver. You aren't invoiced for them, and we give you a copy of every claim statement.
Those decisions, including how many hours, are the case manager's. You talk with them, and we can explain beforehand what to ask. Not assessed yet? You can ask for an assessment yourself. No doctor's referral is needed. Our client-directed home care guide explains the steps and lists the regional intake lines.
A few program rules apply. Care has to be in the approved plan, and each type of care, including respite, has its own approved hours. Your family member must be home for the visit, so outings aren't part of CDHCI. You can book outings as private care. Homemaking, like light housekeeping, counts only if it's in the plan, and only alongside personal care or respite, never on its own.
Private pay. Not on CDHCI, or want more than your approved hours? You can arrange private care on its own or on top of approved CDHCI hours. That might be a few hours a week, an extra weekend, more nights or full 24/7 care. We give you a written quote before any care starts. There's no extra charge for evenings, weekends or holidays. We invoice you directly for private hours.
Every visit is at least 2 hours, on CDHCI and private pay. More on home care costs.
Where we provide it
Available in all four of our service areas, including full 24/7 care. Outside them? Call us. We may still be able to help.
Calgary
All quadrants of Calgary and the surrounding area.
Edmonton
Edmonton's inner city and suburbs.
Red Deer
Red Deer and central Alberta.
Lethbridge
Lethbridge and southern Alberta.
Common questions
What's the difference between overnight presence and awake-overnight care?
Can respite be paid for through client-directed home care (CDHCI)?
Does overnight or weekend respite cost more?
Can the caregiver take my dad out while I'm away?
How do you check the caregiver who'll be in the house overnight?
Need a break, or help through the night?
Call 587.443.1888 any time. Our phones are answered 24/7, and a coordinator calls you back within the hour, day or night. Or use the request form.