Family Respite Relief Care

Puffin Services charges $42/hr for Health Care Assistant support, $42/hr for family respite relief care, and $38/hr for companion care. All three carry a three-hour minimum per visit, and the rate is the same in every municipality we serve.

Yes — Family Respite Relief Care, at $42/hr with a three-hour minimum. Puffin Services designed it for people already providing care themselves: our respite caregivers step into the routine you have established so you can work, rest, or travel. It is booked the same way as any other hourly service, for a single afternoon or on a regular schedule.

Wherever scheduling allows, yes, and for dementia care we treat it as close to essential — a new person in the house every visit undoes much of the benefit for someone with memory loss. Puffin Services employs its caregivers rather than introducing contractors, which is what makes continuity possible to plan for. Where the regular caregiver is unwell or unavailable, finding the replacement is our problem rather than your family's.

Most families arrive at one of two moments: the person they care for has started needing help with things they managed alone a year ago, or the family carer has run out of road. Both are ordinary, and neither means a facility is the next step. Starting with a few hours a week — companion care at $38/hr, or HCA personal care at $42/hr where hands-on help is needed — is usually easier for everyone than starting when there is no choice left.

Family respite relief is $42/hr with a three-hour minimum, the same rate as Health Care Assistant support, because it is the same certified caregiver doing the same work — the difference is that the point of the booking is time off for you rather than a task list for them. A regular weekly block is the arrangement most families settle into.

Online, start to finish, at whatever hour suits you. Choose the service, the city, the date and the hours, tell us anything specific about your family, and pay on the site — there is no phone call, no callback and no waiting on a quote before you know the price. Hourly childcare, postpartum support, senior and adult support and event nannies all work this way, and nanny placement will too once it opens. Pediatric support is the exception: SLPA, OTA, behaviour intervention and autism respite are enquiry-only for now, and those pages say so. A phone line is there if you would rather use it — (604) 283-2829 — but nothing requires it.

Who the booking is for. Companion care at $38/hr is arranged around the person receiving it — company, conversation, a walk, someone in the house. Family respite relief at $42/hr is arranged around the family carer: the point is that you can leave. That is why respite is staffed by a Health Care Assistant rather than a companion, since whoever takes over has to be able to handle everything you normally would, including personal care and mobility, without you there to fill the gaps.

Either. A standing weekly block is the most common arrangement — the same afternoon each week, with the same caregiver where scheduling allows, so your family member gets used to them and you get a break you can actually plan around. One-off bookings work too, for an appointment, a trip, or a week where it has simply become too much. Both carry the same $42/hr rate and three-hour minimum, and there is no travel surcharge anywhere in the 16 municipalities Puffin Services is licensed for.