Dementia Care in Stonington, CT
Specialized in-home support for seniors with dementia, Alzheimer's, and memory loss.
No sales pressure. We'll tell you straight if we're not a fit.
You’ve noticed your father standing at the kitchen window on Water Street for twenty minutes, unsure why he walked in. He knows the house, knows the smell of the salt air, but the sequence of the morning has started to slip. That moment, when you realize the person you’ve known your whole life needs a different kind of help, is hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t lived it. Families in Stonington call us when they’re at exactly that point, looking for someone steady to come in and hold the day together.
Dementia care at home means providing consistent, calm support for someone whose memory and judgment are changing. It’s not just sitting with someone. It’s guiding the morning routine, preparing meals in the right order, redirecting confusion without arguing, and keeping the environment safe so wandering or accidents don’t happen when no one is watching. The goal is to hold the structure of the day so your parent or family member doesn’t feel lost in their own home.
On a typical day, a caregiver might help with bathing, dressing, and breakfast, then sit with the person through activities that keep their mind engaged, whether that’s a walk near the Stonington waterfront, a familiar card game, or simply talking through old photographs. Medication reminders, light housekeeping, and making sure the person is eating and drinking enough are part of it too. When behavior shifts in the afternoon, which is common with dementia, a trained caregiver knows how to respond without escalating the moment.
Families in Stonington often reach out after a hospital stay at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, when it becomes clear that going home without support isn’t safe. A post-discharge transition is one of the most vulnerable times for someone with dementia, and having consistent help from the first day home makes a real difference in how that adjustment goes. We work with families across all areas of Stonington, from the Borough to Mystic, to put care in place quickly when the need is urgent.
Private Duty Aides was founded by a working nurse, which means our approach to dementia care was built around what clinicians actually observe at the bedside, not a general care checklist. That foundation shapes how we train, how we match caregivers, and what we ask our aides to pay attention to during every shift.
Nurse-founded from the start
This agency was started by a working nurse who had seen what families dealing with memory loss actually go through. The safety concerns, the behavioral shifts, the exhaustion of watching a parent change. That experience shaped everything about how we approach dementia care, not just the marketing around it.
Built around this specific service
Dementia care requires a different kind of caregiver than general home care. We brief every aide on your family member’s specific patterns, triggers, and preferences before the first shift. The match isn’t random, and experience with memory care is a real part of how we select who comes to your home.
We stay reachable
Dementia doesn’t follow a schedule, and neither do the questions that come up for families. When something changes or something worries you, you call us and someone who knows your case picks up. You don’t leave a message and wait to find out if anyone heard you.
We know Stonington and New London County
We understand the discharge process at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and how quickly families in this area need to get care in place. We serve all of Stonington and the surrounding towns, and we know what the local landscape looks like for families navigating this for the first time.
How it works
You tell us what’s going on, and we listen. No online intake forms, no pressure, no rehearsed sales script. Just a real conversation about your situation so we understand what your family actually needs.
For dementia care, availability alone doesn’t determine the match. We look at experience with memory loss, temperament, communication style, and whether the caregiver’s personality is a realistic fit for your parent’s. The wrong match makes dementia harder for everyone.
Often same day for Stonington families in urgent situations, especially those coming home from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital who need someone in place immediately. We don’t make you wait while things get harder at home.
We stay in contact with you after care begins. When something changes, whether the dementia progresses or the current schedule stops working, you call us and we adjust. You’re never left figuring out next steps on your own.
Why families choose us
Every aide is trained and supervised through an RN’s lens — not just placed and forgotten.
Personality fit matters more than skill on paper. We match for temperament, pace, and patience.
No franchise rotation. You work with the people who run this agency — direct, accessible, accountable.
Most families are matched with a caregiver within 24 to 48 hours. When something shifts at home, we move quickly.
We build a daily structure around your parent’s rhythm — meals, walks, evenings — and protect it.
You hear from us, not just the aide. Updates on appetite, sleep, mood, mobility — the things that matter.
Every caregiver clears a multi-step screening — background check, reference checks, and an in-person interview with our RN founder — before they're ever placed in a home.
Why families trust us
Private Duty Aides is nurse-founded. Every caregiver clears a multi-step screening — a background check, reference checks, and an in-person interview with our RN founder — before they are ever placed in a home. You get the same consistent caregiver, matched by a nurse, not whoever happens to be available.
Common questions
A typical day of dementia care might start with helping your parent through their morning routine, getting dressed, eating breakfast, and taking medications at the right time. The caregiver also provides company and calm redirection when confusion comes up, which is often more frequent in the morning and late afternoon. Activities like a short walk, a familiar puzzle, or looking through photos give structure to the day. In the evening, the caregiver helps wind things down safely so nighttime goes smoothly.
In most cases we can have a caregiver in place within 48 hours of your call, and for urgent post-discharge situations we often manage same-day starts for Stonington families. The key is calling us as soon as you know the discharge is coming, even if the exact date isn't confirmed yet. We can line up the caregiver match in advance so there's no gap between leaving Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and having support at home. That transition period is genuinely risky for someone with dementia, so we take the timing seriously.
Private Duty Aides is a private-pay agency, which means we don't bill Medicare, Medicaid, or most insurance plans. Families pay out of pocket, sometimes using long-term care insurance if the policy covers non-medical home care. We're upfront about this from the first call because we don't want anyone surprised later. If cost is a concern, we're happy to talk through what a realistic schedule might look like and what it would run.
A home health aide is typically a medical role, ordered by a doctor and covered by Medicare for a limited period after a hospitalization or skilled care need. What we provide is non-medical, meaning we focus on daily support, safety, routine, and companionship rather than clinical treatment. For someone with dementia, the non-medical side of care is often what takes the most time and matters the most. Many families use both at different stages, and we're glad to coordinate with other providers when that's the case.
Yes, and for dementia care we think this is one of the most important parts of what we do. We ask you real questions about your parent's temperament, what upsets them, what makes them feel calm, and what their day has looked like before now. We take that information seriously when selecting the caregiver. If the first match doesn't feel right after a few shifts, we talk about it and adjust. A bad personality fit makes dementia care harder for everyone, including the person receiving it.
We keep backup coverage available specifically so your parent isn't left without support because of a scheduling gap. When a regular caregiver is out sick or unavailable, we contact you directly and confirm who will be coming instead. For someone with dementia, unfamiliar faces can cause anxiety, so we try to introduce backup caregivers before an absence happens whenever possible. You won't find out about a coverage change by having no one show up.
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Dementia Care near Stonington
No sales pressure. We'll tell you straight if we're not a fit.
Private Duty Aides — Stonington, CT
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