Hospice Support Care in Stonington, 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 hospice nurse after the team visited the house off Pequot Trail, and somewhere between writing down the medication schedule and trying to explain it to your sister on the phone, you realized you couldn’t do all of this yourself. That’s not a failing. It’s just the math of what end-of-life care actually asks of a family. We work alongside hospice nurses so you can be present as a son, a daughter, a spouse, not just a caregiver running through a checklist.
Private Duty Aides is a nurse-founded home care agency serving Stonington and all of New London County. We provide the steady, calm presence that keeps someone comfortable at home while your hospice team handles the clinical side. When you need someone there so you can sleep, or eat, or sit next to your person without watching the clock, that’s us.
Hospice Support Care is non-medical help that sits alongside the clinical care your hospice team provides. We handle the day-to-day things that keep someone comfortable at home: helping them move safely, keeping them clean and dry, preparing light food or drinks, managing a quiet environment, and most of all, being there so they’re not alone. Our aides don’t replace your hospice nurse. They make sure everything in between those nurse visits is handled with steadiness and warmth.
For Stonington families, this kind of care often becomes necessary quickly, especially after a discharge from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital when someone returns home and the family suddenly understands the full weight of what’s ahead. We can step in immediately after that transition, covering mornings when energy is lowest, overnight hours when fear tends to peak, or full days when family members need to rest. Across all of Stonington’s neighborhoods, from the Borough to Pawcatuck, we’ve seen what families actually face in these weeks and we come prepared for it.
The day-to-day reality of hospice support care includes companionship and conversation, personal hygiene assistance, repositioning and comfort care, light housekeeping, and emotional presence for both the person receiving care and the family in the room. We also act as an extra set of eyes, noticing changes and communicating them to your hospice nurse so nothing slips through the gaps during a complex, fast-moving time.
Because we were founded by a working nurse, our aides understand the clinical context of end-of-life care. They know how to support a hospice care plan without overstepping it, and they know when to call the nurse. That background shapes how we train, how we match, and what we expect from everyone we send into your home.
Our founder is a working nurse who watched families try to navigate end-of-life care at home without adequate support. She built this agency around what those families actually needed: reliable presence, honest communication, and aides who understand the context of a hospice plan without needing it explained three times.
Hospice Support Care isn’t the same as companion care or personal care. The emotional weight is different. We match aides who have the experience, the steadiness, and the genuine ability to sit with a family in a hard moment. Availability alone doesn’t make the match.
When something changes, and in hospice care something always changes, you call us and we answer. You’re not leaving a message and waiting. We stay close to active cases because we know that responsiveness is part of the care.
We know New London County, the discharge process at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, and the geography of getting care to families across Stonington quickly. We’re not dispatching from far away and guessing. We know this area and the families who live here.
How it works
Tell us what’s happening. No intake forms, no pressure, no sales process. We listen to where you are and what you need right now. If you’re not sure what kind of help is right, we’ll help you think it through.
We match for this service specifically, not just whoever’s available. Hospice Support Care asks for a certain kind of person, and we’re careful about who we send. Personality, experience with end-of-life care, and temperament all factor into the match.
Often same day for Stonington families in urgent situations. We understand that when things move quickly, waiting a week isn’t an option. We make it work.
We stay in contact with you, not just at the beginning. As the situation evolves, we adjust. You’re not managing this alone, and you shouldn’t have to hunt us down when something changes.
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 depends on what your person needs, but usually includes help with morning routines like bathing, dressing, and positioning, light meal preparation or help with eating, keeping the space calm and comfortable, and companionship throughout the day. Our aides also handle light tasks around the home so family members aren't juggling caregiving and housework at the same time. In the evening or overnight, the focus shifts to comfort checks, repositioning, and making sure your person isn't alone or anxious during the harder hours.
We can often start within 24 to 48 hours of your call, and for families coming home from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital where the transition is urgent, we do everything we can to make same-day care happen. The key is calling us as early as possible, even if discharge isn't finalized yet. We'd rather talk through the situation early and have a plan ready than scramble on the day of discharge.
We are a private-pay agency, which means we don't bill Medicare, Medicaid, or insurance directly. The Medicare Hospice Benefit covers clinical hospice services (nursing, social work, chaplain) but generally does not cover the kind of continuous home aide support we provide. Some long-term care insurance policies do cover private-pay home care, so it's worth checking your policy. We're happy to give you documentation that you can submit to your insurer if needed.
A home health aide typically works on a plan prescribed and overseen by a doctor or nurse, often through a Medicare-certified agency, and focuses on specific clinical tasks. Our Hospice Support Care aides are non-medical and focus on comfort, companionship, and daily living support that sits alongside your hospice nurse's clinical plan. Think of it this way: your hospice nurse manages the medical side, and our aide makes sure everything in between those visits is calm, dignified, and handled. The two roles work together, not in competition.
Yes, and we take this seriously. When you call, we ask real questions about who your parent is, not just what care they need. Quiet or talkative? Does religious faith matter to them? Are they private about their body? Do they respond better to someone calm and low-key, or someone more actively engaged? We use that information to make a thoughtful match, not just assign whoever's available. If the first match doesn't feel right, we adjust.
We always have a backup plan and we communicate it to you before you ever need it. If your regular caregiver is sick or has an emergency, we fill the shift and we call you to let you know what's happening, not the other way around. In hospice care especially, a gap in coverage isn't acceptable, and we build our scheduling to prevent it. You shouldn't have to scramble because of our staffing issues.
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Hospice 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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