A standing weekly visit
Keep the same morning or afternoon each week for shopping, a fitness class, errands or a nap. A fixed slot also gives your relative time to grow comfortable with the PSW.
Private home care · Ottawa
Ottawa In-Home Respite Care
A personal support worker (PSW) covers a few hours, a whole night or the days you are away, giving the person who provides daily help time to rest.
A Registered Nurse (RN) writes every plan, and the nursing team is on call 24/7.
Free in-home assessment. No obligation.
Respite in Ottawa
Scheduled Breaks for Family Caregivers
Respite means booked time off for the relative or friend who handles day-to-day care at home. During those hours an Integracare PSW stays with the person and keeps to the household's usual routine. Catch up on rest, put in a full workday, see your own doctor or leave the city for a few days.
Integracare was founded in 1991 and runs its Ottawa service from an office on Preston Street. We are a private company, separate from Ontario Health atHome, the provincial body that families call for publicly funded home care. You can book our respite on its own or add it to services you already receive.
Choose your cover
4 Ways Ottawa Families Use Respite
Overnight cover
A PSW stays from bedtime until breakfast and helps with whatever comes up in the dark hours, such as a safe walk to the bathroom or a wakeful spell. You can sleep through, in the next room or at your own home.
While you are away
A trip, surgery or a hospital stay of your own can be covered with visits spread through the day, for as many days as you are gone.
Around the clock
For a longer gap, the plan can move to 24/7 home care, where PSWs work rotating shifts and one stays awake until morning. Live-in care is the other route: one PSW lives in, with a dedicated sleep period at night.
On a typical visit
What the PSW Does While You Are Out
The PSW works from the care plan for the hours booked. That can mean help with bathing and dressing, cooking meals your relative enjoys, prompts for medication and fluids, and a steady arm when standing or walking. Light housekeeping and errands fit into the same visit, along with company and conversation.
The PSW records notes as the shift goes. Relatives you invite can read them, and check the schedule, in the Family Room, Integracare's online portal for families.
Nurse-led respite
An RN Writes and Oversees Each Plan
Before respite begins, an RN visits the person at home, assesses their needs and writes up the care plan. The RN keeps oversight of it afterwards and updates it as health changes. Families, clients and the caregivers in the home can reach the nursing team at any hour, every day of the year.
Visits under that plan are made by PSWs and Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), each matched to the person.
Kristine McGinn leads Integracare in Ottawa and has worked in health care for more than 25 years. Kristine holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN).
Compare your options
Respite Choices for Ottawa Families
Details as of October 2026.
Scroll the table sideways to compare care options.
| Integracare | Publicly funded, at home | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it happens | Your own home | Your own home |
| First step | Call our Ottawa office at (613) 212-7567 | A referral and a care coordinator's assessment |
| Duration | A few hours up to live-in support | Differs by service and by family |
| Who pays | The family, privately | Paid by the province for people who qualify. A care coordinator sets the hours. |
Alongside public care
Adding Private Hours to Public Respite
With publicly funded respite, a care coordinator decides which services the person is eligible for, weighing their assessed needs and what the community offers. That means the public plan may not reach the evening you work late, a weekend out of town or the week you are in hospital yourself. An Integracare PSW can fill those gaps.
Private visits can fit around whatever public help you receive. A PSW can take the evenings and weekends the public plan leaves open, help with the morning routine on adult day program days, or keep things steady while you wait to hear about a long-term care stay.
Publicly funded respite includes homemaking only when the person also needs personal support. Integracare PSWs can fold light housekeeping, errands and meals into any visit.
Book a Break
Name the hours you want covered. An RN will meet you at home and set up the plan.
Local Resources
Other Respite Help in Ottawa
Other organizations run these programs. Each sets its own rules, and Integracare is separate from all of them.
The Ontario Caregiver Helpline offers free phone support for family caregivers, answered 24/7 at 1-833-416-2273. Staff point callers to local support groups and programs for the person receiving care. It is not a crisis line.
To find other community programs in Ottawa, call 211.
Questions & Answers
Questions Ottawa Families Ask About Respite
Can private respite run alongside Ontario Health atHome services?
Yes. Integracare visits are arranged and paid for separately. At the assessment, tell the nurse when public visits or an adult day program already happen, and the plan is built around those times.
How many hours of public respite will we get?
There is no set number. Ontario says in-home respite hours differ by service and by each family's situation. An Ontario Health atHome care coordinator decides after assessing the person.
Can we plan respite in French?
Yes. In Ottawa, nursing supervision and care management are offered in French as well as English, so you can set up visits and ask questions in either language.
Can you cover for me while I am in hospital myself?
Yes. If you are booked for surgery or a stay at The Ottawa Hospital, Queensway Carleton or Hôpital Montfort, a PSW can visit through the day for as many days as you are away. Give the nurse your dates at the assessment so the visits are booked ahead.
What if my relative does not want a stranger in the house?
Book the first shift for a time when you are home too. Introduce the PSW, stay nearby for an hour, then lengthen your time out over the next few visits. Share what calms your relative, what they enjoy talking about and what tends to unsettle them, and the nurse adds it to the plan.
Can respite help when the person is living with dementia?
Yes, under a plan the nurse writes for that person. Our Ottawa dementia care also offers Sensory Tool Kits, personalized sets of familiar scents, music and objects to touch.
Other Services
More Care in Ottawa
Home Care in Ottawa
Personal Support Workers in Ottawa
24-Hour Home Care in Ottawa
Live-in Care in Ottawa
Dementia Care in Ottawa
Palliative Care in Ottawa
Nursing Care in Ottawa
We also provide respite care in Greater Toronto and respite care in Winnipeg.
Free In-Home Assessment
Book Respite Care in Ottawa
Tell us what you need. A nurse will contact you within one business day.
343 Preston Street, Suite 1104, Ottawa, ON K1S 1N4
Prefer to talk?
Ottawa(613) 212-7567 ↗We serve families across the Ottawa region. See the areas we cover
Clinically reviewed by Bethel McMaster, BScN, RN ·