Hospice Support Care in Salem, 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 watched the hospice nurse leave after her visit, heard her car pull down Witch Meadow Road, and then the house went quiet again. The paperwork was signed, the equipment was delivered, but the hours between visits stretch out and nobody told you how to fill them. Salem is a quiet town, and that quiet can feel very heavy when someone you’re watching over needs a steady, calm presence around the clock.
We’re Private Duty Aides, a nurse-founded home care agency serving families across Connecticut. We provide non-medical hospice support care that works alongside the hospice team, not around it. Our role is to be in the room when the nurse can’t be, to help with comfort, companionship, and the small daily things that make a difference at this time.
Hospice support care is non-medical care that complements whatever hospice team you’re already working with. Our aides sit with your family member, help them stay comfortable, assist with light personal care like repositioning or changing, and simply keep them company so nobody faces those quiet hours alone. When the hospice nurse from your care team checks in, our aide can share what she’s observed, giving the clinical staff a clearer picture.
For families in Salem who’ve had a recent stay at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital before transitioning to home hospice, the first few days back can feel overwhelming. Our support usually begins within 48 hours of a discharge, sometimes the same day, and we help the household find a rhythm. That can include things like keeping the environment calm, handling light household tasks so family members can rest, managing visitors at the door, or simply holding a hand through the night.
Salem families who call us are often managing this from a distance or alongside work and kids of their own. We cover all areas of Salem, and our care is flexible enough to be there for a few hours a day or around the clock, depending on what stage you’re at. Whatever the schedule looks like, the goal is the same: the person in your care feels safe, cared for, and not alone.
Because Private Duty Aides was founded by a working nurse, our approach to hospice support is grounded in clinical awareness. Our aides understand what hospice nurses need from them, how to communicate changes, and when to step back and let the medical team lead.
Nurse-founded, not agency-by-formula
Our founder is a working nurse who saw firsthand what families navigating end-of-life care at home actually need. The agency was built around that experience, not around what’s easiest to deliver.
Built for this service specifically
We don’t treat hospice support like companion care with a different name. Our aides are matched for this work, briefed on your situation before they arrive, and prepared for what this stage of care looks like in practice.
We stay reachable when things change
Hospice care shifts quickly. If your family member’s condition changes overnight or you need to adjust the schedule at short notice, you call us and we pick up. There’s no voicemail maze to navigate in a hard moment.
We know Salem and New London County
We understand the discharge process at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, the rural character of Salem, and the way families here often carry more of the care themselves than they should have to. We work around that reality.
How it works
You tell us what’s happening, where things stand, and what you need. No intake forms, no pressure, no sales pitch. We listen and we ask the right questions.
For hospice support care, matching matters more than availability. We look at temperament, experience with end-of-life care, and what kind of presence your family member needs right now.
Often the same day for urgent situations in Salem. We know time is a factor and we don’t make you wait through long onboarding processes.
We stay in regular contact with you through this. If the care needs to shift, if something changes, or if you just need to talk through what you’re seeing, we’re reachable and we respond.
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, your aide might help with repositioning for comfort, light personal care like washing or changing, keeping the room tidy and calm, and simply being present so your family member isn't alone. If your family member is awake and wants conversation, the aide is there for that too. If it's a quieter day, the aide stays attentive without hovering. The day is shaped around what your family member needs, not a fixed task list.
We can typically start within 48 hours of you contacting us, and for families transitioning home from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital with urgent needs, same-day starts have happened. The earlier you call us in the discharge planning process, the smoother the transition tends to be. We work around your timeline, not ours.
We're a private-pay agency, which means we don't bill Medicare, Medicaid, or insurance. Some long-term care insurance policies do reimburse for private-pay home care, so it's worth checking your policy language. We're transparent about costs from the first call, and there are no hidden fees or enrollment charges. If cost is a concern, we're glad to talk through what level of care fits your situation.
A home health aide typically provides skilled or semi-skilled personal care and is often connected to a medical care plan billed through insurance. Our hospice support aides provide non-medical care, meaning they focus on comfort, companionship, and daily assistance rather than clinical tasks. The hospice nurse handles the medical side. Our role is to support that clinical team by keeping your family member comfortable and by being present in the hours between nurse visits. The two roles work together.
Yes, and that's something we take seriously for hospice care in particular. Before we place anyone, we talk with you about your family member's personality, what calms them, what bothers them, and what kind of presence they respond to. We match based on that, not just on schedule availability. If the first match doesn't feel right, we adjust without making you feel awkward about asking.
We keep you informed ahead of time whenever possible and have a backup plan ready. We never leave a shift uncovered without talking to you first. Any substitute we send is briefed on your family member's situation before they arrive, so it's not a stranger walking in cold. Consistency matters deeply in hospice care, and we build our scheduling with that in mind.
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Hospice Care near Salem
No sales pressure. We'll tell you straight if we're not a fit.
Private Duty Aides — Salem, CT
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