Private PSW care at home.

An agency employs the caregiver and adds its overhead and margin on top of what that caregiver is paid. Hiring a private PSW directly removes that layer: you pay one hourly rate to the person who does the work, you meet her before you commit, and the same caregiver comes back each visit rather than whoever is scheduled that day.

One hourly rate, with a 2-hour minimum per visit. It is the same rate for personal care, companionship, dementia support, respite, meal preparation and light housekeeping alike — there is no separate rate per service and no agency fee. Transportation is the same hourly rate plus agreed mileage when the caregiver's own vehicle is used. The first consultation is free, and that is the place to ask for the current rate, or send a message and ask.

OHIP covers physician and hospital care, not a personal support worker at home. Ontario Health atHome does fund home care, allocated after an assessment and limited in hours. Whether funding allocated that way can be used to hire an independent PSW directly depends on the specific program and its conditions, so ask Ontario Health atHome about your own situation rather than assuming either way. Support arranged privately is paid privately; some extended health, long-term care insurance and veterans' benefit plans reimburse it, which is worth checking against your policy.

No. Anyone can hire a PSW directly — a referral, an assessment and a waiting list are features of publicly funded care, not of private care. A phone call is enough to start.

Day-to-day help that lets someone stay in their own home: assistance with washing, dressing and daily routines, medication administration within the agreed care plan, meals, light housekeeping and laundry, company and conversation, accompaniment to appointments and errands, and respite so a family caregiver can rest. A PSW does not perform nursing procedures or prescribe anything.

Kitchener, Ontario, Waterloo, Ontario, Cambridge, Ontario, Guelph, Ontario, New Hamburg, Ontario, Baden, Ontario, St. Jacobs, Ontario, Elmira, Ontario. Visits are in the client's own home. If you are just outside these areas it is still worth asking.

The first consultation is free and carries no obligation. It is a conversation in the client's home about what help is actually needed, what a week would look like, and whether the fit feels right on both sides — deciding whether to let someone into a parent's home is the hard part, and it should not be decided over the phone.