When Your Parent Is Coming Home From the Hospital: An Ottawa Guide for Adult Children

You probably found this at an odd hour. A parent is about to be discharged, or was just sent home, and you’re somewhere between relief and worry. Relief because the acute crisis is over. Worry because you’ve had a good look at their home. The bathroom they now can’t step into. The stairs they can’t safely climb. The kitchen they can’t stand in long enough to make a meal. You know it wasn’t built for the person they are now.

You are not alone in this. Fall-related hospitalizations among Canadians 65 and older have risen steadily for more than a decade, and fall-related hospital stays are typically nine days longer than the average hospital stay for that age group. When your parent gets home, their home is what determines whether recovery holds, or whether they’re back in an emergency department in a week.

This article is a calm, step-by-step guide to the first 72 hours. No panic. No lectures. Just what to look at, who to call, and what the Ottawa system actually provides. We’ve written it so that you can read it in ten minutes at midnight and know what to do in the morning.

Occupational therapists, discharge planners, and family physicians across Ottawa share this article with families. If you are a healthcare professional, you can also visit our page for professionals for referral workflow details.

Before they leave the hospital: three people to talk to

At The Ottawa Hospital, discharge planning begins the day your parent is admitted, not on the day they leave. Each inpatient unit has a designated social worker assigned to your parent’s case. Most families don’t realize this, and most don’t use it.

Ask to speak to three people before discharge.

The unit social worker. They are the single most useful person in the hospital for what you’re navigating. Ask them to confirm the discharge date, walk through the discharge summary, and flag any follow-up appointments. If you’re worried about your parent’s ability to manage at home, say so plainly. Social workers can escalate concerns to the physician and sometimes extend the hospital stay by a day or two if the home plan isn’t ready.

The Ontario Health atHome care coordinator. Ontario Health atHome is the agency that now coordinates all publicly funded home care in Ontario. At The Ottawa Hospital, a care coordinator is often already attached to your parent’s file. If not, you or any family member can make a referral directly. The referral starts the clock on nursing visits, personal support worker hours, and occupational therapy at home. You can reach Ontario Health atHome by calling 310-2222 (no area code required, anywhere in Ontario) or the Champlain area toll-free line at 1-800-538-0520. The Ottawa office is at 4200 Labelle St., Suite 100.

The occupational therapist, if one has been assigned. OTs are trained specifically to assess how a person functions in their own environment. If an OT has been working with your parent in hospital, ask whether they will do a home visit. If they won’t, ask whether they can recommend a community OT who will. A home-environment OT assessment is not only useful. For certain provincial grant programs like the Home and Vehicle Modification Program, it’s a requirement.

Ottawa Hospital policy specifies a 10 a.m. departure time for discharge. That sounds like a detail. It isn’t. It means you typically have less than 24 hours from the discharge decision to having your parent physically at home. Everything in this article is built around that reality.

The first 24 hours: what to look at before they walk in the door

Before your parent crosses the threshold, walk through the home once with fresh eyes. You are looking for the gap between what their body could do last week and what it can do now.

The path from car to front door. How many steps? Is there a handrail? Is the walk clear of ice, leaves, uneven pavers, or anything they could catch a toe on? Ottawa winters are unforgiving. If it’s between November and April, plan for snow and ice on the approach.

The entry. Is there a step up into the home? How high? Can they manage it with a cane or walker, or do they need temporary support? A rental ramp can be installed the same day in Ottawa, and it’s not expensive.

The bathroom. This is where most post-discharge falls happen. Look at three things: how they get into the shower or tub, whether there’s a grab bar beside the toilet, and whether the floor is slippery when wet. If the answer to any of these is “no good option,” that’s your most urgent fix, and it’s usually addressable within 48 hours.

The bedroom. Is the bed at a height they can get into and out of? Is there a clear path from bed to bathroom that they can navigate in the dark? Are there loose rugs between the two? Loose rugs are the single most common fall hazard in seniors’ homes. Pick them up before your parent gets there.

The kitchen. Can they reach what they need without climbing or stretching? Is there a seat they can rest on while preparing a meal? If they can’t stand for more than a few minutes, a simple kitchen stool buys them back a week of independence.

You don’t need to fix everything in 24 hours. You need to identify what’s urgent and make the first home-entry safe. The rest is the next section.

The 72-hour decisions: what can wait, what can’t

There’s a real tension in the first three days between doing too much and doing too little. Doing too much, such as tearing out a bathroom the day they come home, adds disruption to someone who is already exhausted. Doing too little, such as leaving the bathroom untouched because the renovation is “planned for later,” puts them in the emergency department.

The framework we use with families is simple: fix the lethal hazards in 72 hours, schedule the rest within 30 days.

What can’t wait (address in 72 hours)

Grab bars beside the toilet and in the shower or tub. These can be installed in a single half-day visit. Properly installed grab bars support up to 250 pounds of sudden body weight, which is enough to catch a fall mid-slip. Towel bars are not grab bars and will pull out of the wall under load. If your parent has a fall in the first week, this is usually where it happens.

A non-slip surface in the shower or tub. Stick-on treads are a temporary fix; a proper non-slip mat with suction is better. Either is better than nothing.

A clear path from bedroom to bathroom with overnight lighting. Motion-activated plug-in night lights cost about $15 at Home Hardware and Canadian Tire. Get four. One in the bedroom, one in the hallway, one in the bathroom, one in the kitchen if your parent gets up at night.

Removal of loose rugs and anything on the floor that could shift underfoot. Put the rugs away. They’re coming out anyway; you’re just doing it before the fall instead of after.

Medication organization. This isn’t about the home, it’s about the person, but it belongs on the 72-hour list. If your parent came home on new medications, load a weekly pill organizer the night they arrive. If they take more than five medications daily (known as polypharmacy), they are already at elevated risk for readmission. A daily dosette is a simple intervention that saves lives.

What should be scheduled in the next 30 days

Bathroom renovation. Converting a tub to a curbless shower, widening the doorway if a walker is now needed, replacing the toilet with a comfort-height model. A proper accessible bathroom renovation in Ottawa typically takes two to three weeks from planning to completion. Start the conversation now, but don’t try to compress it.

Stair solutions. Whether a stair lift, a railing upgrade, or a main-floor sleeping arrangement. If your parent lives in a two-storey Ottawa home and can no longer climb stairs safely, the medium-term decision is: adapt the upstairs, or move their bedroom downstairs. Either requires planning, not an overnight decision.

Entry and exterior improvements. Permanent ramps, railings, lighting, winter-safe paths. These matter enormously in Ottawa’s climate, but they’re a month-long project, not a weekend one.

Kitchen adjustments. Lowering a shelf, adding a seat, moving heavily used items within reach.

What your parent’s discharge planner may not say

Hospital discharge planners are skilled, overworked, and focused on getting your parent medically stable enough to leave. That is their job. Their job is not to know whether the bathroom at home is safe, whether the entry is ice-free, or whether the bedroom is on the second floor.

A few things we see families discover only after discharge.

Home care hours are rationed. When Ontario Health atHome assigns personal support worker (PSW) hours, the initial allocation is usually fewer hours than the family expected. That is not unusual. You can request a reassessment if your parent’s condition changes, but the reassessment takes time. Many families find the gap between “what PSW hours cover” and “what our parent actually needs” to be larger than they’d been told.

Equipment isn’t always arranged automatically. If your parent needs a walker, a raised toilet seat, or a shower bench, the hospital may recommend these but will not necessarily source or deliver them. Ask directly: “Who is sourcing the equipment, and when will it arrive at the home?” If the answer is unclear, assume it’s you.

Home modifications are rarely discussed. Hospital staff generally won’t recommend home renovations. That’s not their scope. But for many seniors, the reason they’re in hospital is the home, and the reason they’ll be back is also the home. If your parent’s fall was in the bathroom, the bathroom is the intervention, not the physiotherapy.

The Going Home Program is underused. Carefor’s Going Home Program is a publicly funded service that provides free community support (transportation home, light housekeeping, personal care, Meals on Wheels delivery) for the first 10 business days after a senior 65+ is discharged from an Ottawa-area hospital. Referrals must come from the hospital (discharge planner or Geriatric Emergency Management nurse), so ask for one before your parent leaves. If intake hasn’t called you within two business days, phone 613-238-8420 to follow up.

Grants and funding triggered by a hospital stay

A hospital stay often unlocks funding programs that wouldn’t have been available a week earlier, either because the medical change now qualifies your parent, or because an OT assessment has been completed.

Home Accessibility Tax Credit (HATC). If your parent is 65 or older, or eligible for the Disability Tax Credit, up to $20,000 in qualifying accessibility renovation expenses can be claimed each tax year. The credit is 15% of eligible expenses, up to $3,000 back. It applies to grab bars, walk-in showers, ramps, widened doorways, and many other accessibility modifications. Read our HATC guide →

Home and Vehicle Modification Program (HVMP). Up to $15,000 lifetime for Ontarians with a substantial mobility impairment and household income under $60,000. HVMP requires an occupational therapist’s written assessment, which is why a hospital-stay-triggered OT assessment can matter so much. The program is administered by March of Dimes Canada.

Assistive Devices Program (ADP). Covers up to 75% of the approved cost of mobility aids and home accessibility devices (stair lifts, ceiling lifts, bath lifts) for Ontarians with long-term physical disabilities. Requires OT authorization.

Ontario Renovates. Grant or forgivable loan of up to $15,000 for income-qualifying homeowners. Covers accessibility modifications among other eligible work.

Grant eligibility is frequently established by hospital events. The Disability Tax Credit application you couldn’t justify three months ago may qualify now. The OT assessment completed during inpatient rehab is often the document HVMP requires. The window for acting on this is usually a few weeks, not a few months.

How to have the conversation with your parent

If your parent is the fiercely independent type, and many are, they may not want to talk about changing anything. They just want to be home.

Post-discharge is paradoxically the easiest time to have this conversation, because the need is now concrete rather than abstract. It’s no longer “someday you might fall.” It’s “you just fell.” The conversation shifts from a projection to a plan. Start with their goal (staying home), not yours (keeping them home). Let them control the small things. Sequence the changes over weeks rather than asking for everything at once.

We’ve written a separate article on this conversation specifically. Read “I’m Not There Yet”: the conversation that actually works →

If you want someone to handle all of this

This article is meant to be useful whether or not you ever call us. The information above is accurate as of 2026 and reflects how the Ottawa system actually works.

That said: if you want someone to come assess the home within five business days, coordinate immediate modifications, handle grant applications, and stay involved as your parent’s needs evolve, that is exactly what we do at Still at Home. We’re Ottawa’s managed aging-in-place service. Our assessors are CAPS-certified. We work with occupational therapists, hospital discharge planners, and families across the city.

Hospital-discharge situations are one of the most common reasons families call us. If you’d like to book a free home assessment, the fastest path is the button below. Most post-discharge assessments happen within 48 hours of the call.