Hospice Support Care in Guilford, CT
Non-medical hospice support — homemaker-companion services that complement hospice nursing during a parent's final months at home.
No sales pressure. We'll tell you straight if we're not a fit.
You got the call from the Yale New Haven Hospital discharge team on a Tuesday afternoon, and by Wednesday morning your father was home in Guilford, settled into his bedroom on Whitfield Street with a hospital bed that didn’t quite fit. The hospice nurse came for an hour. Then she left. And the quiet that followed was louder than anything you expected. That moment, the one right after the nurse drives away and the house goes still, is exactly where we come in.
We’re Private Duty Aides, and we provide private-pay, non-medical home care for families in Guilford who are walking through end-of-life care at home. We work alongside your hospice team, not instead of them, filling the hours in between with steady, calm presence. You shouldn’t have to manage all of this alone.
Hospice support care is non-medical caregiving that fills the time between visits from your hospice nurse or social worker. Our aides sit with your family member, help with personal comfort like repositioning, light hygiene, and keeping them warm, and they handle the small things around the house so family members can rest or simply be present without also having to be the housekeeper. It’s a supporting role, and we take it seriously.
Families in Guilford typically reach out to us right after a discharge from Yale New Haven Hospital, when everyone realizes that the hospice team’s scheduled visits cover only a fraction of the day. We step in for those remaining hours, whether that’s a few hours in the morning or overnight shifts when families need to sleep. We also help with meals, light tidying, errands, and sitting quietly with someone who doesn’t want to be alone. Sometimes that last part matters more than anything else.
In Guilford, we work with families across all areas of town, from the neighborhoods near the town green to the quieter roads off Route 77. Every situation is a little different, but the core need is almost always the same: someone who shows up reliably, knows what to expect at this stage of life, and doesn’t need to be managed. That’s what we aim to be.
Private Duty Aides was founded by a working nurse, which shapes how we approach hospice support specifically. Our founder understood what a family goes through when clinical visits end and the house goes quiet, and she built the agency to address exactly that gap with people who are experienced, steady, and prepared for this kind of care.
Nurse-founded agency
Our founder worked as a nurse and watched families struggle through end-of-life care at home without enough support between clinical visits. She started this agency to close that gap, which means the people running it understand what families going through hospice actually need, not in theory but from direct experience.
Built around this specific service
Hospice support care asks something different from a caregiver than other types of home care. Our matching process accounts for that. We look for people with end-of-life experience, a calm and steady presence, and the ability to work alongside hospice nurses without overstepping or underdelivering.
We stay reachable
When something changes during hospice care, and things often do change, you need to be able to reach someone who knows your situation. We keep that line open. You’re not calling a general intake number and explaining everything from scratch. We know you, and we pick up.
We know Guilford and New Haven County
We understand the discharge process at Yale New Haven Hospital and how Guilford families typically navigate the transition home. We work across all parts of town, and we’ve been in enough of these situations locally to know what tends to come up and how to handle it.
How it works
We start with a real conversation, not a web form. Tell us what’s happening, what your family member needs, and where things stand. We listen, ask a few questions, and give you honest information about what we can offer. No pressure, no sales pitch.
For hospice support care specifically, we think carefully about who we send. We look at experience with end-of-life care, temperament, communication style, and how well someone will fit with your family’s rhythm. Availability matters, but it’s not the only thing that matters.
For Guilford families in urgent situations, we often start the same day. We know that when someone is home on hospice, waiting a week isn’t an option. We move as quickly as you need us to, and we keep you informed every step of the way.
We don’t hand off a caregiver and disappear. We stay in contact with you throughout, especially during hospice care when things can change quickly. If something shifts, you call us and we respond. You’ll never be left wondering who to contact or what to do next.
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
On a typical day, a hospice support caregiver helps with personal comfort, things like repositioning, light hygiene, keeping your family member warm, and making sure they have water or a small meal if they're eating. They also handle light tasks around the home, like tidying up, so that family members can focus on being present rather than managing the house. A big part of the role is simply being there, sitting with someone who doesn't want to be alone, reading aloud if that's welcome, or just staying close and calm. Every day looks a little different depending on where someone is in their journey.
We can often start the same day a family calls us, especially when someone has just come home from Yale New Haven Hospital and the need is urgent. In most cases we get care in place within 48 hours of that first conversation. We know that in a hospice situation, every day counts and waiting a week for a caregiver to start isn't realistic. If you call us and tell us what's happening, we move quickly.
We are a private-pay agency, which means we don't bill Medicare, Medicaid, or insurance. Families pay us directly. Medicare's hospice benefit does cover clinical services like nursing visits, aide visits, and medications related to the terminal diagnosis, but it doesn't cover the kind of extended companionship and supportive care that we provide. Many families find that our services fill the gap between what Medicare's hospice benefit covers and what their family member actually needs throughout the day and night.
A home health aide typically works under a medical plan of care, completing clinical tasks ordered by a physician and documented for insurance billing. Our hospice support caregivers are non-medical. They provide comfort, presence, and practical help with daily life, working alongside your hospice clinical team rather than replacing them. Think of it this way: your hospice nurse handles the medical piece, and our caregiver handles the human piece during all the hours in between those visits.
Yes, and for hospice care specifically we think that match matters more than almost anything else. We take time to understand your family member's personality, their routines, what makes them comfortable, and what kind of presence they respond well to. We also consider what the family needs from the caregiver, because you're part of this too. If a match isn't working after care starts, we talk about it and we adjust. We don't just send whoever is available and hope for the best.
We maintain backup coverage so that a gap in care doesn't fall on your family to fill. If your regular caregiver is sick or unavailable, we contact you, tell you what's happening, and arrange a substitute. We don't leave you to figure it out on your own. During hospice care especially, we understand that continuity and reliability aren't optional, and we take that responsibility seriously.
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No sales pressure. We'll tell you straight if we're not a fit.
Private Duty Aides — Guilford, CT
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