Why this service exists
MyOwnHomeCare started with two grandmothers — Phyllis and Thelma.
Two grandmothers
Phyllis, my grandmother-in-law, was the daughter of a Lithuanian immigrant who brought her children to Canada alone. She grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario — they kept a milk cow in the back yard — and after marrying, she remained in the same small brick house for more than sixty years. When she finally moved into assisted living, her dementia worsened quickly. She made the difficult transition to a memory-care facility, where she lived for many years before passing away during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thelma, my grandmother on my mother's side, was the daughter of Finnish immigrants who settled first in Northern Ontario and then in Squamish, BC. She was active all her life and loved cross-country skiing. After her husband died, Thelma suffered from depression, and a gradual cognitive decline followed. While her body remained healthy, her dementia progressed steadily. She spent fifteen years in an advanced care ward before she died.
Both received good care in the later years. But anyone who has watched a parent or grandparent decline knows the feeling that something more was possible — that small things, noticed sooner or done with more attention, might have made an important difference.
That feeling is what started this service. There's the care that meets all the minimum standards, and then there's the care that's possible. Providing better care in a cost-effective manner is a great challenge.
— Marcie Martin
How we run this service
Good caregiving is harder than it looks. The work is physically demanding, emotionally taxing, and sometimes messy. The caregivers who do it well combine practical competence with genuine attention to the person in front of them. Paying them as the skilled professionals they are is the only way to ensure high-quality care. Our clients act as our partners in helping us to attract and retain the very best.
A few principles shape how we run the service and attract the very best caregivers:
- We pay our staff well.
- Our Registered Care Aides are paid above BC's Living Wage — the hourly rate calculated annually as what a household actually needs to cover basic expenses in this region — and well above what home-care agencies typically pay. The benefit to you is direct: we are able to hire and retain excellent staff.
- We recruit actively.
- We don't wait for applications. We seek out the best caregivers we can find, mostly through our own professional network.
- We keep teams small.
- Each client is supported by a small, consistent team — usually two caregivers (the primary and a backup) who know the client, the routine, the preferences, and the household. Caregivers sometimes get sick, or take vacations, change jobs or move; a small team gives you the assurance of continuity. More than one set of eyes also tends to catch more.
- We run lean.
- Care organizations do carry heavy regulatory and administrative obligations, but those obligations can be efficiently fulfilled. We use advanced scheduling, documentation, and accounting tools, as well as a virtual office, to keep administrative overhead as low as possible, which means better value for you.
Want to know more?
If you have questions about who we are or how we work, call or send a message. We're happy to talk.