How we help
Hospice is involved, and the family needs more hands
Hospice brings nurses, aides, a social worker and a chaplain, but usually for a few hours a week. The other 160 hours belong to the family. We can carry some of them with you.
Personal care, comfort and company in the many hours between hospice visits.
Overnight presence so the family can sleep, or simply not be alone with it.
Meals for everyone in the house, laundry, a calm and orderly home.
Coordination with the hospice team: we follow their care plan for comfort and report what we see.
Relief for a spouse or child who wants to be present as family, not only as caregiver.
The gap hospice cannot fill
Hospice is extraordinary care, and it is intermittent. A nurse two or three times a week, an aide for bathing a few times a week, a social worker and a chaplain. Families are often surprised by how much of the day and all of the night is theirs to manage. Turning, changing, feeding, sitting up at 3 a.m., keeping visitors fed, keeping a household running while grieving in advance.
A home care caregiver in the house takes the physical load so the family can take the emotional one.
What our caregivers do alongside hospice
Follow the hospice care plan for comfort: repositioning on schedule, mouth care, keeping skin clean and dry, helping with meals and fluids as tolerated. Sit with your father so your mother can shower and sleep. Keep the house calm and the kitchen going for the people coming through. Be present overnight so no one has to be awake alone. Notice changes and call the hospice nurse when the plan says to.
Our caregivers do not administer medication or perform nursing tasks; hospice nurses and the family handle those, and we remind and report.
Common arrangements
- Overnights, so the family sleeps and someone is always awake.
- Daytime hours so a spouse can rest, or so adult children can go to work knowing their parent is not alone.
- 24-hour care in the final weeks, when families want to be family rather than shift workers. See 24-hour care.
Starting quickly
Call us. We will ask a few questions about the hospice plan, the home and the family’s needs, and do a brief in-home visit so we can match a caregiver with the right temperament. Hospice families move to the front of the line.
Other situations we help with
24-hour care
The doctor, the discharge planner, or your own gut has said it: someone needs to be there all the time. You want that to be home. Here is how 24-hour care actually works.
Overnight care
Days are manageable. Nights are not. Bathroom trips at 2 a.m., wandering, confusion, or a spouse who has not had an unbroken night's sleep in a year. An overnight caregiver changes the whole household.
You need a break (respite)
You have not slept through the night in months. You have canceled your own doctor's appointments twice. You love them and you are running on empty. Respite is not giving up; it is how you keep going.
Dementia and memory loss
The repeated questions. The stove left on. The night you found the front door open. You want to keep them home, and you are starting to wonder how much longer you can.
Frequently asked questions
Can we have home care and hospice at the same time?
What can your caregivers do and not do?
How quickly can care start?
This article is general information for Pennsylvania families and is not medical, legal, financial, or insurance advice. It's Your Home Care is a non-medical home care agency licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health; we do not provide skilled nursing or medical services. Program rules and eligibility change; confirm details with the agency or program named, your physician, or a qualified advisor before making decisions.
Talk to a care coordinator today
Tell us what is happening at home. We will explain your options, including what private pay, long-term care insurance, VA benefits, and Pennsylvania waiver programs may cover, and schedule an in-home care consultation when you are ready.