Overnight care means a caregiver comes to your parent’s home in the evening and stays through the night, so someone is there when they wake, need the bathroom or get frightened in the dark. With Alberta Maple Care in Calgary it costs $39.00 per hour, and below we explain how a night works, how overnight care for elderly parents differs from live-in and 24 hour home care, and what a week of nights adds up to.
What overnight care at home is
An overnight caregiver arrives for the night and leaves in the morning. Your parent sleeps in their own bed, in their own room, with the bathroom where it has always been. Nobody packs a bag or moves anywhere.
It’s the same care we give in the daytime, at a different hour. We match your parent with a caregiver, with one main caregiver and one backup they already know, and every caregiver is background-checked before working with clients. A Registered Nurse reviews the care plan before the first night.
Some families need the caregiver awake all night. Others need someone resting on site who gets up when your parent does. We offer both, and the free visit is where we work out which one fits. An overnight visit is at least 3 hours, and how long each night runs depends on what your parent needs and on which caregivers are available, so we set the hours together.
When families ask for an overnight caregiver
Usually something has changed at night, and the family is the one losing sleep over it.
The first nights home from hospital are a common one. Your mother is back after a stay, she’s weaker than before, and the walk to the bathroom at three in the morning is the part nobody wants her doing alone. You can book nights for that stretch and change the schedule as things settle.
Another is a parent who is up in the night. Dementia can turn night and day around. Your father might be getting dressed at two in the morning, or trying the front door, or calling out because he doesn’t know where he is.
The third is the family caregiver who needs to sleep. A spouse or an adult child may be doing the days and the nights, and after weeks of broken sleep they can’t keep going like that. An overnight caregiver means that person gets a full night in their own bed. Our respite care page covers breaks for family caregivers more broadly.
What a night looks like
The caregiver arrives in the evening and starts with the bedtime routine your parent already has: washing up, changing for bed, teeth, a drink of water within reach, and a reminder for evening medications if that’s in the care plan. Before the house goes quiet, they check the doors and the stove and make sure the path to the bathroom is clear.
If your parent wakes and needs the bathroom, the caregiver helps them get there and back. That trip, half asleep, in the dark, is where a lot of families worry about falls. If your parent wakes confused or upset, the caregiver talks to them calmly, tells them where they are and helps them settle again. If they’re trying to leave the house, the caregiver is there to steer them back.
If something seems medically wrong, the caregiver follows the escalation plan we agree with your family in advance. Depending on what’s happening, that means the after-hours line (if your parent is an Assisted Living Alberta home care client), 811 Health Link, or emergency services.
In the morning the caregiver helps your parent start the day: getting up, the bathroom, washing and dressing. Before leaving, they write a short handover note for the family on how the night went and anything to keep an eye on.
Not sure where to start? Leave a number and a nurse will call.
Overnight care, live-in care and 24 hour home care in Calgary
These three get mixed up on the phone a lot. Overnight care covers the night. During the day your family, day visits from us, or both cover the rest.
Our 24/7 and live-in care is for people who need help day and night, and we staff it one of two ways. With rotating shifts, caregivers work set blocks with waking coverage and a handover between each shift. With live-in care, one caregiver stays in the home and has defined off-duty and sleep times. Rotating shifts suit high activity or complex care. Live-in suits a lower workload at night and a steady routine. We look at the risks, the layout of the home and your budget, and recommend one.
If the nights are the hard part and the days are manageable, overnight care on its own may be all you need. If the days are getting hard too, read the around-the-clock page before the visit so we can talk through both.
How much overnight care costs
Our overnight rate is $39.00 per hour. Daytime care is $37.50 per hour. Those rates apply within Calgary city limits. For homes outside the boundary, in Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks, Chestermere, Banff, Canmore or Strathmore, the rate is confirmed case by case before care begins. There’s no assessment fee, no package to buy and no long lock-in contract.
Care is billed by the hour, so a week costs the overnight rate times the overnight hours you book. Three examples at today’s rate, paying privately:
- 12 overnight hours in a week: $468.00
- 24 overnight hours in a week: $936.00
- 40 overnight hours in a week: $1,560.00
These totals come from the same setting as our pricing page, so they update if the rate ever changes. To work out your own week, the estimator there has an overnight section: set the nights and the hours and it does the arithmetic. Our article on how much home care costs in Calgary covers what else moves a bill, and the questions to ask any provider before you compare quotes.
If paying privately is a stretch, our social worker does an affordability assessment, and families who qualify receive reduced fees. Ask about it on the first call.
If your parent has approved CDHCI hours, they can be used overnight when the care given at night is the care Assisted Living Alberta approved. Alberta Blue Cross pays $35.03 of each approved hour and you pay the balance, which is $3.97 for an approved overnight hour. Our CDHCI page explains the program and who qualifies.
How to start
- Call us, or leave your number in the form at the bottom of this page. We reply to every enquiry within one business day.
- We come to the home for a free, no-obligation assessment visit. A nurse or a social worker listens first, then looks at what the nights are like, the risks and the layout of the home.
- A Registered Nurse reviews the care plan before care begins, and we match your parent with a main caregiver and a backup.
- We set the schedule together with you, and the first night goes ahead.
You can book the free visit online if that’s easier than a call.
Short answers
How much does overnight care cost in Calgary?
With us, $39.00 per hour within Calgary city limits, paying privately. Multiply by the overnight hours you book in a week, or let the estimator on the pricing page do it.
Is overnight care the same as 24 hour home care?
No. Overnight care covers the night only. 24 hour home care means someone is in the home day and night, either on rotating shifts or as a live-in caregiver with set sleep times.
Can approved CDHCI hours be used overnight?
Yes, when the care given at night matches the services Assisted Living Alberta approved. You pay the balance on each approved hour, as above.
Will it be the same overnight caregiver every night?
Your parent has one main caregiver and one backup they already know, so the person who comes in on a night the main caregiver is off is a familiar face.
Can we book nights for a short time, like the first weeks home from hospital?
The schedule is set together with your family and there’s no long lock-in contract. Tell us how long you expect to need nights and we’ll plan around it.