A caregiver helps with the practical side of recovery: safe movement and fall prevention, bathing and dressing, meals, light housekeeping, medication reminders, and following the routines your surgical team has set. They accompany your family member to follow-up appointments and let your family and our nursing team know about any changes. Where wound care or clinical monitoring is needed, nursing care can be added.

It depends on the surgery, the person's health before it, and the instructions from the surgical team. Many people need the most help in the first days and weeks, then less as strength returns. We build the plan around your discharge instructions, review it as recovery progresses, and adjust up or down. There's no long-term contract, so care can step down as soon as you're ready.

Private post-operative care is priced hourly and depends on how many hours you need, how often, and whether nursing is involved. We give you a transparent, itemized quote after the free consultation, with no hidden fees and no long-term contract. Publicly funded home care through Ontario Health atHome costs the family nothing if you're eligible, and some households also use the Family-Managed Home Care Program or an insurance plan toward the cost of private care.

Ontario Health atHome provides publicly funded home care, such as nursing and personal support, for eligible people recovering at home, and these services are covered through OHIP. Eligibility is decided by Ontario Health atHome, and the hours provided may be fewer than you need or fall at times that don't suit your routine. Many families use public services as a base and add private care on top.

If you're in hospital, ask the discharge planner or the unit's social worker before you leave, since discharge planning is where these services are usually arranged. If you're already home, call Ontario Health atHome at 1-833-515-1234. A representative checks eligibility and walks you through the next steps. It's worth doing this before you pay for anything privately.

Home care brings support to you in your own home. Convalescent care is a short stay in a care facility focused on regaining strength and independence after surgery or illness, and in Ottawa it is arranged through Ontario Health atHome. Some people choose home care because they recover best in familiar surroundings, and some use a convalescent stay first and then return home with support.

Tell us your discharge date on the consultation call, and we’ll do our best to coordinate care around it. Care can usually start within days of your consultation. The Ottawa Hospital advises that a responsible adult accompany you after surgery and recommends that someone stay with you for the first 24 hours; a caregiver can accompany you home and be there during that first stretch if your family can't.

It depends on what your surgical team has asked for. A caregiver covers daily recovery tasks such as mobility, personal care, meals and medication reminders. If you have a wound to monitor, a dressing to change or other clinical needs, nursing care is the right addition. Registered nurse oversight is part of how we work either way, and we'll tell you honestly which level fits.

Contact your surgical team promptly for signs such as redness, warmth, swelling or discharge at the wound, a fever, pain that is new or getting worse, swelling or pain in a leg, or confusion that is new. Call 911 for chest pain, difficulty breathing or sudden confusion. Always follow your surgical team's instructions. Our caregivers let your family and our nursing team know about any changes they notice.

Yes. Recovering alone is one of the most common reasons families call us. A caregiver can help with moving safely, personal care, meals and medication reminders, and give family members who live elsewhere a clear update, so nobody is guessing how recovery is going.

We assign the same caregiver, or a small consistent group of caregivers, wherever possible. A caregiver who returns learns your routine, your limits and how you like things done, and notices when something changes, which is exactly what you want during recovery.

Our caregivers are vetted, insured, bonded, police-checked and trained in senior care, and registered nurse oversight is part of how we work.

Yes. The consultation is free, by phone, and carries no obligation. Tell us about the surgery, your discharge date and what the surgical team has asked for, and we'll tell you honestly whether and how we can help, including if public services or another option might suit you better.