Hospice Support Care in Ledyard, 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 sat with your father in his room at the house on the edge of the Ledyard reservation land, the quiet so deep you could hear the creek out back, and the hospice nurse left after her visit and said she’d be back Thursday. That was two days ago. You’ve been sleeping on the couch, watching his breathing, answering calls from your siblings who live four hours away and need updates you don’t always have. You need someone alongside you who knows what this stretch of time looks like, not just medically but in every ordinary and hard moment between nurse visits.
We’re Private Duty Aides, a nurse-founded home care agency serving families across New London County. We support people at home through the final chapter, sitting with your family member when you need to sleep, helping with comfort routines, and making sure no one is ever alone in this.
Hospice support care fills the space between your hospice nurse’s visits. Our aides sit with your family member, help with personal comfort like repositioning, light grooming, and mouth care, and make sure someone is present and calm even when the medical team isn’t in the house. We follow the hospice plan and work alongside the clinical team, never substituting for it.
For families in Ledyard, the need often starts after a discharge from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London, when a person returns home under hospice and the family realizes around-the-clock support is more than one or two people can carry. We can be there the day someone comes home. We help with comfort routines, keep the environment calm, assist with meals if the person is still eating, and simply stay close so your family member isn’t alone and you’re not running on empty.
Families across all areas of Ledyard use this service in different ways. Some need coverage overnight so adult children can sleep. Some need a consistent aide during daytime hours when family returns to work. Some need full-time presence through the final days. We work around what your family actually needs, not a fixed package.
Because Private Duty Aides was founded by a working nurse, our approach to hospice support is built on real clinical experience. That means our aides are briefed on what to expect, how to communicate with the hospice team, and how to hold steady in moments that are hard for everyone in the room.
Nurse-founded from the start
Our agency was founded by a working nurse who spent years watching what families actually needed during end-of-life care at home. The gap wasn’t medical. It was the hours between visits, the overnight exhaustion, the need for someone steady and experienced to be present. That’s what we built this around.
Aides who know this kind of care
Hospice support isn’t the same as general home care, and we don’t treat it that way. Our aides are briefed on what to expect, how to communicate comfort without clinical language, and how to support the family as much as the person in their care. The match we make for hospice support is deliberate.
We answer when you call
When something changes at 2 a.m., you shouldn’t have to leave a message. We stay reachable because this kind of care requires it. If your family member’s condition shifts, if the schedule needs to change, if you just need to talk to someone who understands, we’re here.
We know Ledyard and New London County
We know how discharge from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital works and how quickly families need coverage once their person is home. We’re familiar with Ledyard’s geography and the kinds of homes and family situations people have here. This isn’t a distant call center. We’re local.
How it works
You tell us what’s happening. No forms to fill out first, no automated intake. We hear your situation and talk through what kind of support makes sense. There’s no pressure to book anything in that first conversation.
For hospice support specifically, the match matters more than just availability. We look at temperament, experience with end-of-life care, and the specific personality and needs of your family member before we make an introduction.
We move quickly for Ledyard families in urgent situations, often starting same day. We understand that this phase of life doesn’t wait for a two-week onboarding process.
As things change, and they will change, you have a direct line to us. We check in regularly, adjust the care as needed, and make sure you’re never left figuring things out alone.
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 looks different depending on where your family member is in their illness, but it usually includes sitting with them to provide calm company, helping with comfort care like repositioning, mouth swabs, or light grooming, and assisting with any meals or fluids if the person is still taking them. Our aides also support the family, answering questions, helping with small tasks around the home, and keeping things steady when the clinical team isn't present. The goal is that no one in that house feels alone with what's happening.
We can often start care the same day someone is discharged from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, especially when a family reaches out before or during the discharge process. In most cases we can have someone in the home within 24 to 48 hours. If you know a discharge is coming, call us early so we can have the right caregiver identified and ready.
We're a private-pay agency, which means we don't bill Medicare, Medicaid, or insurance directly. Some long-term care insurance policies reimburse for private-duty care, so it's worth checking your policy language. We can provide documentation to support a reimbursement claim if needed. We're transparent about costs upfront, so there are no surprises.
Home health aides typically work under a skilled nursing plan and focus on clinical tasks like wound care monitoring or therapy follow-through. Hospice support care is about comfort and presence. Our aides aren't performing medical procedures, but they're trained to recognize changes in condition, communicate with the hospice team, and support the person and their family through this time. The role is less clinical and more human, and in end-of-life care, that distinction matters.
Yes, and for hospice support we take that match more seriously than we do for almost any other service. We ask questions about your family member's personality, their history, what makes them feel safe or unsettled, and what the family dynamic looks like. If the first match isn't right, we make a change. You shouldn't have to adapt your parent to a caregiver's style during this time.
We maintain backup coverage so a gap in care doesn't happen. If your regular caregiver is sick or unavailable, we contact you directly and have a replacement in place before the scheduled shift. We introduce backup caregivers when possible so your family member isn't meeting a stranger during a difficult moment. We don't leave families to sort this out on their own.
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Hospice Care near Ledyard
No sales pressure. We'll tell you straight if we're not a fit.
Private Duty Aides — Ledyard, CT
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