Assessment at home
Before care starts, an RN visits to see how the person moves through the home and where help is needed.
Private home care · Toronto & Mississauga
Stroke Recovery Care at Home in Toronto and Mississauga
Personal support workers (PSWs) help with standing up, walking, washing, meals and home exercises once the hospital stay ends.
A Registered Nurse (RN) writes and oversees each plan, and nurses are on call 24/7.
Free in-home assessment. No obligation.
The first weeks
Coming Home From Hospital After a Stroke
After a stroke, the hard parts of the day are often ordinary ones: rising from the sofa, a night-time trip to the toilet, a shower, a meal that brings on coughing, a conversation at the table. For a while, each can need a second pair of hands.
Integracare sends PSWs into homes across Toronto and Mississauga for that work. PSWs are trained aides for personal care and household tasks. Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) take any nursing visits the care plan calls for. If your relative is coming home from St. Michael's, Sunnybrook, Toronto Western, Toronto Rehab or Mississauga Hospital, call us once the discharge date is set.
Talk through your options
Daily help at home
What PSWs Take On During Stroke Recovery
PSWs follow the RN's written plan, which draws on the hospital's discharge instructions.
Moving around the house
Getting out of bed, up from a chair, onto the toilet and into the shower, with the PSW within arm's reach on stairs.
Personal care
Bathing, shaving, teeth, hair and dressing. The person does every step they can, and the PSW helps with the rest.
Meals
Cooking to the diet in the care plan, with drinks kept within easy reach.
Medication reminders
A prompt at each prescribed time, and a word to the nurse about any missed dose.
Housework and errands
Light housekeeping and picking up groceries or prescriptions.
Speech and swallowing
Help With Talking, Eating and Drinking
A stroke can make it hard to speak, follow a conversation or swallow safely.
At home, the PSW prepares food and drinks to the textures the speech-language pathologist (SLP) has set and stays at the table through the meal. Coughing, throat-clearing or a wet-sounding voice at meals goes to the nurse, who checks the textures with the SLP's plan and adjusts how meals are served.
In conversation, the PSW gives time for answers and follows the SLP's tips.
Exercise at home
Keeping Up Rehab Exercises Between Therapy Visits
Public therapists usually leave a written home exercise program and expect a family member to run it. Between therapy visits, an Integracare PSW can take that on, following the therapist's plan.
Integracare can also bring a registered physiotherapist to the house to check the person's condition, write a treatment plan and give therapy for mobility, strength, balance and flexibility. The PSW goes through those exercises with the person and records how each one went.
Plan the First Week Home
Share the discharge date and the hospital's instructions with us. An RN will set the visit times with you.
Nurse-led care
How Our Nurses Run a Stroke Care Plan
Integracare, a Canadian home care company, was founded in 1991. Every client's plan is written and overseen by an RN.
Discharge instructions
Our nursing team works from the hospital's discharge instructions and lines up the support needed at home.
Plan reviews
After a fall, a new prescription or a change in what the person can do alone, the RN revisits the plan and hours.
Contact with doctors
Our care coordinator checks on test results, keeps in touch with physicians and raises changes early, so the family hears about them.
Nurses on call
Families and PSWs can reach a nurse at any hour, every day.
The Family Room
This online portal lets relatives you invite check visit times and read caregiver notes as each one is recorded.
Between appointments
Routines That Support the Doctor's Plan
The person's doctors set the treatment to lower the risk of another stroke. Our team helps with the parts that happen at home.
Fluids through the day
Reminders to drink water, given along with each medication prompt.
Signs of a new stroke
PSWs know the warning signs of a new stroke: a drooping face, a weak arm, slurred speech. At any sign, the PSW dials 9-1-1, because a stroke is an emergency, and tells the nurse on call.
Falls and other changes
The PSW stays within reach on stairs and in the bathroom, and any fall, swelling, or change in sleep or appetite goes to the nurse the same day.
For family caregivers
Support for the People Doing the Daily Caring
Booked PSW visits give the main caregiver regular time off. For help day and night, 24-hour care runs rotating shifts with someone awake overnight. With live-in care, one PSW stays in the home and has a set sleep period.
Local Resources
Other Stroke Recovery Help in Toronto and Mississauga
Your relative may pass through several of these services. Each one sets its own rules, and Integracare is separate from all of them.
3 Regional Stroke Centres
Paramedics bypass community hospitals and take people with stroke symptoms straight to St. Michael's Hospital (Unity Health Toronto), Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre or Toronto Western Hospital (University Health Network). Patients who do not need a regional centre move to the community hospital closest to home.
West GTA stroke centre
Mississauga Hospital (Trillium Health Partners) is the regional stroke centre for the west GTA, with acute stroke care and rehab on the same unit.
Therapy starts on the ward
Rehabilitation normally begins in the acute hospital within the first 24 to 48 hours, then may continue as an inpatient, as an outpatient or in a community program. Its length varies with stroke severity and the help at home.
6 rehab organizations
Within the Toronto Stroke Networks, stroke rehab takes place at Hennick Bridgepoint (Sinai Health), Providence Healthcare (Unity Health Toronto), Scarborough Health Network's Birchmount site, St. John's Rehab (Sunnybrook), Toronto Rehab (University Health Network) and West Park Healthcare Centre.
Inpatient therapy goals
Toronto Rehab's Stroke Rehab Inpatient Service works on mobility, balance, speech, memory and problem solving, swallowing, and strength and endurance. Its team starts planning discharge early, with the family.
Speech and swallowing therapy
Ontario Health atHome, the provincial agency for publicly funded home care, offers speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to people whose communication or swallowing has been affected by stroke.
Ontario Caregiver Helpline
Free phone support for family caregivers, answered 24/7. Staff point callers to local support groups and programs for the person receiving care. It is not a crisis line. Call 1-833-416-2273.
Costs of community programs
For community programs after discharge, the Toronto Stroke Networks tell families to ask about extra costs, since OHIP, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, may not cover them.
Outpatient rehab in the west end
Trillium's Outpatient Neuro Rehabilitation Clinic at Queensway Health Centre in Etobicoke sees people within a year of their stroke who live in Mississauga or the M8W, M9A, M9B and M9C postal codes. A doctor's referral is needed.
Peer support in Peel
March of Dimes Canada runs a free Peel After Stroke peer support group for survivors and families. Register through afterstroke.ca.
Questions & Answers
Questions From Toronto Families on Stroke Recovery at Home
How early should we get in touch?
When the hospital team first raises a discharge date. Early contact gives the RN time to assess the home and arrange visits before your relative arrives.
Can Ontario Health atHome visits and private care run together?
Yes. If the person qualifies, the province pays for home care. A care coordinator decides which services fit, based on assessed needs and what the community offers. We book private PSW hours around any public visits.
Who decides which exercises to practise at home?
The therapists do: the hospital or rehab centre team, an outpatient program, Ontario Health atHome or a physiotherapist we arrange. The PSW goes through the written routine with your relative and leaves any changes to the therapist.
How much does stroke care at home cost?
Price depends on how many hours you book each week and which kind of care fits: visits, 24-hour care or live-in care. We explain pricing at the free in-home assessment.
Other Services
More Care in Toronto and Mississauga
Home Care Services in Toronto
Personal Support Workers in Toronto
Physiotherapy in Toronto
Registered Practical Nurses in Toronto
24-Hour Home Care in Toronto
Respite Care in Toronto
Live-in Care in Toronto
We also provide stroke care in Ottawa and stroke care in Winnipeg.
Free In-Home Assessment
Arrange Stroke Care at Home in Toronto
Tell us what you need. A nurse will contact you within one business day.
Clinically reviewed by Bethel McMaster, BScN, RN ·