24-hour home care
Support through the day. Someone awake through the night.
If your loved one needs help throughout the day and night, it takes an organized team. With 24-hour care, caregivers work in shifts to keep support in place. We'll talk through the routine, the hours that worry you most and how to arrange the care your family needs.
What is 24-hour home care?
24-hour home care is help that carries on through the whole day and night. A small team of caregivers works awake shifts, usually two 12-hour or three 8-hour shifts, and they hand over to each other at every change. Someone is always up and ready to help, whether that’s breakfast or a walk to the bathroom at 3am.
An organized team
You don't have to hold the whole schedule together
When someone needs help around the clock, families often start by covering it themselves. A sister takes the weekends, a neighbor looks in at lunchtime, and somebody sleeps on the couch. That can work for a while, and it wears everyone out.
With 24-hour care, that job belongs to a team. We arrange the shifts, choose caregivers who suit the person they’re helping, and keep the routine steady from one shift to the next. You get to be family again, and your Care Manager keeps you posted on how things are going.
Weighing this against a caregiver who lives in? Our guide sets live-in care and 24-hour care side by side.
How hourly and live-in care compare with 24/7 care
Hourly, live-in and 24-hour care each fit a different kind of day. Here they are side by side, so you can see when someone is awake and when a caregiver is resting.
Hourly care
Help during the hours you choose, from a few mornings a week to full days.
Someone present and awake from 8am to 11am. Someone present and awake from 5pm to 8pm.Any hours you choose. Shown here as a morning and an evening visit, just as an example.
Live-in care
Someone in the house all day and all night, sleeping at night.
Someone present and asleep from midnight to 7am. Someone present and awake from 7am to 10pm. Someone present and asleep from 10pm to midnight.The caregiver sleeps, and can be woken when something needs doing. It suits households where the nights are mostly settled.
Awake 24-hour care
you’re hereA rotating team, awake through every shift. Nobody sleeps on duty.
Someone present and awake from midnight to midnight.Typically two twelve hour or three eight hour shifts, so somebody is always both present and awake. No spare bedroom is needed because nobody sleeps in the house.
- Someone here and awake
- Someone here, asleep
- Nobody here
Many families mix them: an awake caregiver on the hardest nights, hourly help in the day. Live-in care compared with awake 24-hour care goes through it properly, and what each one costs is on the paying for care page.
How it runs
A team that keeps the day and night on track
Here's what we put in place so care carries on smoothly from one shift to the next.
Caregivers in shifts
Most families have two 12-hour shifts or three 8-hour shifts a day, so nobody works a night on the back of a full day. Your Care Coordinator sets up the rotation with you, and you'll know who is coming and when.
A handover at every shift change
The caregiver finishing a shift tells the next one how things went: meals, sleep, mood and anything that changed. It all goes in a written log, and your family can read it too.
Someone to call
Your Care Manager keeps you posted and is the person to call when something changes. Together you'll agree who the caregiver calls at 2am, who they call if that person doesn't answer, and when they call 911 instead. It's decided in advance, in writing, with your input, so nobody has to work it out in the middle of the night.
Days off and sick days covered
A single missed shift doesn't leave a gap. Backup caregivers are named in advance for each shift in the rotation and have already met your parent, and your Care Manager talks the plan through with you before care begins.
Needs change, and the plan changes with them. If the days get easier or the nights get harder, your Care Manager will adjust the hours and the help with you.
Day and night
What a day and a night can look like
In the daytime, it’s the ordinary things done well. Breakfast the way your mother likes it, a walk if the weather’s good, lunch, a ride to an appointment and a reminder when a medication is due. There’s company through the afternoon, and someone to help get supper on the table.
At night, the caregiver is quiet and awake. They help with trips to the bathroom, settle someone who wakes up confused, keep the bedtime routine familiar and write up the night in the log, so the morning caregiver and your family know how it went.
You can choose the kind of help, too. With companion care, caregivers help with company, meals, the house and reminders. With personal care, they also give hands-on help with bathing, dressing, the bathroom and getting in and out of bed. We provide personal care in Connecticut and New Jersey. In New York we provide companion care, by the hour, overnight, live-in or around the clock. When nursing is part of the picture in Connecticut, our separate company, Endurance Home Health, can work alongside the caregivers.
Questions about 24-hour care
What is the difference between live-in care and 24-hour care?
With 24-hour care, caregivers work awake shifts, so someone is up and ready to help at any hour. With live-in care, one caregiver lives in the home and has agreed time to rest, including a night's sleep. The right choice usually comes down to the nights. Tell us what they're like, and we'll talk it through with you.
How do the shifts work?
Most families have two 12-hour shifts or three 8-hour shifts a day. At each change, the caregivers hand over to each other and update a written log your family can read, so the next person knows how the day or night has gone.
Will we see the same caregivers?
We keep a steady team on your schedule, so the faces in the house become familiar. Caregivers are introduced before they start, and backup caregivers are named in advance and have already met your parent, so days off and sick days are covered.
Can we start with nights only?
Yes. Many families arrange overnight care on its own, with family or hourly help during the day. You can add daytime hours later if you need them, and we'll adjust the plan with you.
Does 24-hour care include hands-on help?
It can. With companion care, caregivers help with company, meals, the house, errands and reminders. With personal care, they also help with bathing, dressing, the bathroom and moving around safely. We'll work out which one fits when we talk.
What does 24-hour care cost?
It depends on the schedule and the help your family needs. Endurance is private pay, and if there's a long-term care insurance policy, we'll help with the paperwork. Ask on the first call and we'll give you a real range for your schedule.
See also overnight home care, live-in home care and hourly care, or read how families pay for care.
Do we come to you?
We work across Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, by the hour, overnight, live-in or around the clock. In Connecticut, hourly, overnight and 24-hour care are available in Fairfield and New Haven counties, and live-in care is available in every county. In New York, companion care by the hour, overnight or around the clock is available in Westchester County and Manhattan, and live-in companion care is available in every county. Find your county on the map, or just call and ask about your town.
- Companion and personal care
- Companion care, any schedule
- Not served
Companion and personal care
- Fairfield, CT
- Hartford, CT
- Litchfield, CT
- Middlesex, CT
- New Haven, CT
- New London, CT
- Tolland, CT
- Windham, CT
- Atlantic, NJ
- Bergen, NJ
- Burlington, NJ
- Camden, NJ
- Cape May, NJ
- Cumberland, NJ
- Essex, NJ
- Gloucester, NJ
- Hudson, NJ
- Hunterdon, NJ
- Mercer, NJ
- Middlesex, NJ
- Monmouth, NJ
- Morris, NJ
- Ocean, NJ
- Passaic, NJ
- Salem, NJ
- Somerset, NJ
- Sussex, NJ
- Union, NJ
- Warren, NJ
In Connecticut, hourly, overnight and 24-hour care are available in Fairfield and New Haven counties, and live-in care is available in every county.
Companion care, any schedule
- Albany, NY
- Allegany, NY
- Bronx, NY
- Broome, NY
- Cattaraugus, NY
- Cayuga, NY
- Chautauqua, NY
- Chemung, NY
- Chenango, NY
- Clinton, NY
- Columbia, NY
- Cortland, NY
- Delaware, NY
- Dutchess, NY
- Erie, NY
- Essex, NY
- Franklin, NY
- Fulton, NY
- Genesee, NY
- Greene, NY
- Hamilton, NY
- Herkimer, NY
- Jefferson, NY
- Kings, NY
- Lewis, NY
- Livingston, NY
- Madison, NY
- Monroe, NY
- Montgomery, NY
- Nassau, NY
- New York, NY
- Niagara, NY
- Oneida, NY
- Onondaga, NY
- Ontario, NY
- Orange, NY
- Orleans, NY
- Oswego, NY
- Otsego, NY
- Putnam, NY
- Queens, NY
- Rensselaer, NY
- Richmond, NY
- Rockland, NY
- Saratoga, NY
- Schenectady, NY
- Schoharie, NY
- Schuyler, NY
- Seneca, NY
- St. Lawrence, NY
- Steuben, NY
- Suffolk, NY
- Sullivan, NY
- Tioga, NY
- Tompkins, NY
- Ulster, NY
- Warren, NY
- Washington, NY
- Wayne, NY
- Westchester, NY
- Wyoming, NY
- Yates, NY
In New York we provide companion care only: company, meals, errands, appointments and someone watching out for your parent. In New York, companion care by the hour, overnight or around the clock is available in Westchester County and Manhattan, and live-in companion care is available in every county.
We serve every town in every county shown. Find your town or tell us the address when you call.
Talk with our care team
Tell us what the days and nights are like
We'll call to talk through the routine, the hours that worry you most and how the shifts could work. The first conversation is free, and nothing starts until you say so.
In New Jersey, call (973) 315-5323.