In-Home Care in Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City has the oldest housing stock of any city in the valley and one of its youngest populations. The median age is 32.9. About 12.5 percent of the roughly 218,400 residents are 65 or older, some 26,100 people. A quarter of the city's 101,188 housing units were built in 1939 or earlier. Read those together and the picture forms: older residents here are usually long-tenured in pre-war houses on blocks that turned over around them, or they rent, since fewer than half of all units are single-family and only 45.8 percent of households own.

Care 801 works the whole city, from Rose Park and Glendale on the west side to the Avenues, Capitol Hill, Liberty Wells, Sugar House, Yalecrest and the East Bench. Companion care, personal care, respite for family caregivers, memory care support, 24-hour and live-in coverage, and help after a hospital stay. Call 801-515-5453.

What usually prompts a call in Salt Lake City

The call usually follows something physical. A fall on concrete front steps that have heaved through eighty winters. A hospital stay that ends with discharge instructions nobody at home can carry out. A spouse dies and the survivor is alone in a house bought in 1971, with the bedroom and the only full bathroom upstairs. On the west side, calls often come from an adult child working days who cannot cover a parent living in a duplex or a converted house. About one household in eight speaks Spanish at home, so language is frequently part of the request.

The homes we work in

The median Salt Lake City home was built in 1965 and 33.7 percent of units predate 1950. Our caregivers spend their days in brick houses old enough that the city runs a seismic retrofit program, Fix the Bricks, aimed at unreinforced masonry built before 1975. The city's home repair loan also funds lead paint and radon removal, which tells you plenty about the age of the stock. On the ground that means steep front steps, doorways cut narrower than a modern walker likes, one full bathroom on the second floor, and laundry down an open basement staircase. Add third-floor walk-ups in older fourplexes and north-facing porches that hold ice into February.

Getting around Salt Lake City

This is the only one of the five cities with FrontRunner. Salt Lake Central Station sits on 600 West, with FrontRunner at 250 South 600 West, TRAX at 325 South 600 West and Amtrak at 340 South. Downtown has a UTA Free Fare Zone, but the ride is only free if you board and exit inside it, and FAREPAY or Eco Pass users still have to tap on and tap off. UTA Paratransit requires an in-person evaluation; Salt Lake and Davis County intake is 801-287-7433. Salt Lake County Rides for Wellness, 385-468-3200, drives residents 60 and over to medical appointments inside the county for a $3 suggested donation, booked about two weeks ahead.

Senior centers and meal programs in Salt Lake City

Two county senior centers operate inside the city. Liberty Senior Center, 251 East 700 South, 385-468-3170, runs weekdays 7:00am to 4:00pm with lunch from 11:30 to 12:15, and offers Tai Chi, EnhanceFitness, ceramics, ESL, computer classes, billiards and a movie room. River's Bend, 1300 West 300 North, 385-468-3015, keeps the same hours with a $4 suggested lunch donation, plus quilting, watercolors and a computer lab. The Tenth East center on 1000 East is closed for reconstruction, so call the county to find where its programs moved. Meals on Wheels is run by the county directly, 385-468-3200. In-home care covers the hours the centers do not: mornings, evenings, weekends, and the ride there and back.

Neighborhoods we cover in Salt Lake City

• Sugar House
• The Avenues
• Rose Park
• Glendale
• Federal Heights
• Liberty Wells

ZIP codes served

• 84101
• 84103
• 84105
• 84108
• 84109
• 84116

Coming home from the hospital

People here come home from the medical district on Foothill, from University of Utah Hospital at 50 North Medical Drive and the Craig H. Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital next door at 85 North, which runs CARF-accredited stroke, brain injury, spinal cord and amputee programs. Others discharge from LDS Hospital at 8th Avenue and C Street, Holy Cross Hospital at 1050 East South Temple, or the George E. Wahlen VA Medical Center at 500 Foothill Boulevard. Some spend time in a skilled nursing bed first; St. Joseph Villa on Bishop Federal Lane is the county's largest. The first two weeks home come down to medication timing, safe stair use, and someone noticing early when something is off.

What in-home care costs in Salt Lake City

What drives hours in Salt Lake City is usually the building rather than the person. A third-floor walk-up in the Avenues with no elevator adds time to every errand compared with a main-floor unit in Sugar House. A pre-war house where the bedroom is upstairs and the laundry is down often needs a short evening visit instead of one long morning block. When the nearest adult child lives out in Draper or up in Bountiful rather than a few blocks over, families almost always add weekend coverage. We build the schedule around the house and around who else is close by.

These are typical ranges, not a quote. The consultation gives you real numbers for your actual schedule, and there is no fee to be matched with a provider.

Paying for care in Salt Lake County

The state's VA hospital is here, so this comes up more in Salt Lake City than anywhere else we work: wartime veterans and surviving spouses who already receive a VA pension may qualify for Aid and Attendance, an increased monthly benefit for people who need help with daily activities. It is a VA determination, not something an agency grants, and the paperwork takes time, so start before you need the money. Salt Lake County Aging and Adult Services is the Area Agency on Aging for this city and the rest of the county; 385-468-3200 is the right first call for case management, caregiver support and what else a household may qualify for. We are happy to walk through the pieces at 801-515-5453.

Questions worth asking any provider

Whoever you end up working with, these are the questions that separate a provider who will still be reliable in six months from one who will not.

• Will we get the same caregiver each visit, and what happens when they are sick or on vacation?
• Are caregivers employees of the agency or independent contractors, and who carries the insurance and workers' compensation?
• What is the minimum visit length, and is there a different rate for weekends or holidays?
• How much notice do you need to change a schedule, and is there a cancellation charge?
• What specifically is not included, particularly around medication, transfers and driving?
• Who do we call at 2am if something goes wrong, and will an actual person answer?