Home Care for Jewish Families
Caregivers trained to follow your household's practices, not to assume them
Almost every family we meet hears the same wish: I want to stay in my own home. For many Jewish older adults, home carries layers of identity — family history, food, neighborhood, ritual, and memory.
Colorado CareAssist is a family-owned agency, and we are a Jewish family. We built this service because our community deserved caregivers who understand that there is no single Jewish home. Some families are traditionally observant. Some keep selected practices. Some are culturally Jewish but not religious. Some households are interfaith. Good care begins with the older adult's actual preferences — documented, followed, and never assumed.
We serve Jewish families across Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and the Front Range — from a few hours a week to around-the-clock and live-in care. In Colorado Springs? See our Jewish home care in Colorado Springs page.
This page is part of our faith- and culture-sensitive home care approach. We also serve Christian families — Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, and Orthodox — with the same ask-instead-of-assume discipline.
Our legal name is Hesed Home Care
Colorado CareAssist is the operating name of Hesed Home Care LLC. We chose hesed deliberately. Jewish tradition distinguishes tzedakah — charity, given with money — from gemilut hasadim, the practice of loving-kindness, which is given with your hands and your presence. It says three things about that practice, and each one describes this work:
- It is done with the person, not the checkbook — the bath, the meal, the ride, the long afternoon of company.
- It is owed to rich and poor alike. Nobody is exempt from needing it.
- It does not end at the end. It extends to the dying, and to the family left behind.
We do not claim to have earned the name. We chose it as the standard, and we try to live up to it.
What that means in practice
For every family who wants one, we build a written care profile: kitchen practices and the certifications the household accepts, Shabbat and holiday preferences, synagogue and rabbi contacts, meaningful music and rituals, and any known trauma triggers. Caregivers follow it. They ask rather than assume, and they never impose a level of observance the client did not choose.
The kitchen, done the household's way
Our caregivers understand that meat and dairy are kept separate in a kosher kitchen, that sponges and towels are not interchangeable, and that families differ in which kosher certifications they accept. We learn the household's rules before the first shift and follow them — we do not substitute products or improvise a standard.
Shabbat and the holidays
Preparation before sundown. Candle safety with a parent who is unsteady. Understanding that a phone may go unanswered on Saturday. Caregivers follow the household's written preferences — and in an emergency, they follow the care plan and emergency procedures without hesitation.
Fasting, Passover, and medication safety
Many older adults wish to fast even when it may not be safe for them. We plan for that day with the family in advance rather than discovering it. At Passover we can help with the kitchen changeover — and we never stop, delay, crush, or substitute a medication because of a fast or holiday without instructions from the prescribing clinician.
Memory care, and what endures
Dementia takes recent memory first and leaves the oldest things longest. A person who cannot name a close family member may still remember a blessing, a melody, or a prayer learned in childhood. Familiar foods, photographs, music, and the rhythm of a holiday can remain meaningful long after ordinary conversation becomes difficult.
Trauma-informed care, including for survivors
For some Holocaust survivors living with dementia, earlier traumatic memories may become more immediate while recent memories fade. Personal care, unfamiliar uniforms, and closed doors can be distressing. Care must be individualized and trauma-informed — reassurance, choice, patience, explanation, never force. Ask us how we train and supervise caregivers for this.
Support through loss
We help families document, in advance, exactly whom to call and in what order — the synagogue, the family's chosen Jewish funeral provider, hospice — so nobody is deciding in the moment. And during shiva we can support the household: the home, the food, the visitors, and the needs of a surviving spouse, who is often the person no one else is looking after.
Why families choose a team over a private caregiver
Many families in our community start by hiring someone directly — a recommendation from a friend, cash, no paperwork. It works, until the day it does not. We are not selling caregivers. We are selling a team that never leaves you stranded, with the cultural fluency the private hire usually has and the agency almost never does.
Backup that actually shows up
Caregivers get sick, leave, or have their own emergencies. With a private hire, that is your crisis at 6 a.m. We keep a team briefed on your parent's care plan, arrange coverage, and tell you in advance. You are not left alone with a parent who cannot get out of bed.
The liability is ours, not yours
If a privately hired caregiver is hurt lifting your parent in your home, you can be treated as the employer. Our caregivers are our employees — covered by our workers' compensation, bonded, and insured. That risk does not sit with your family or the estate.
Household-employer taxes, handled
Hiring directly can make you a household employer, with payroll tax, withholding, and reporting obligations. With an agency there is none of that. One hourly rate; we handle the rest.
Supervision and a care plan
A private caregiver works alone, with no one watching for decline and no escalation path. We write a care plan, supervise the caregiver, review changes with you, and adjust as needs grow. Someone is paying attention besides the person in the house.
Care that scales past one person
One caregiver cannot provide around-the-clock care. When the need becomes 24-hour or live-in, the private arrangement usually collapses overnight. We staff shift-based and live-in care so the transition does not become a second crisis.
For Jewish veterans, VA-authorized care may be available
Colorado CareAssist is a VA Community Care provider with an established authorization and billing process. Eligible veterans may receive authorized in-home care through the VA. Eligibility, the number of approved hours, and any cost-sharing are determined by the VA — not by us — and they vary from veteran to veteran.
What we can do is tell you honestly whether it is worth pursuing, help with the referral and authorization paperwork, and coordinate with the VA care team. Learn more about VA home care, or call (303) 757-1777 and we will walk you through it.
A guide for Jewish families
We wrote a plain-spoken guide to keeping a parent safely at home: the kitchen, Shabbat and the holidays, medication safety around a fast, memory loss, trauma-informed care, how to know when help is needed, and planning ahead for the end of life. It also includes the questions worth asking any home care agency — including ours.
Download the guide (PDF, 9 pages)
Prefer a printed copy in the mail? Ask us or call (303) 757-1777 and we will send one.
Jewish home care in Colorado
Jewish home care is in-home caregiving that accommodates a household's Jewish religious and cultural practices, and observance varies widely: some families keep a fully kosher kitchen with separate meat and dairy dishes, others keep selected practices, others are culturally Jewish but not religious, and many homes are interfaith. Competent care begins by asking rather than assuming, then following the older adult's documented preferences. Common considerations include kashrut and which certifications a family accepts, Shabbat from Friday sundown to Saturday nightfall, and the holiday calendar, including fasting on Yom Kippur and the kitchen changeover before Passover. No medication is ever stopped or changed for a fast or holiday without clinical instruction. Dementia care and trauma-informed support for Holocaust survivors are frequent needs. Colorado CareAssist — the operating name of Hesed Home Care LLC — is a Jewish-family-owned agency serving Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and the Front Range since 2012.
Questions families ask
Do your caregivers keep a kosher kitchen?
We follow the household's own rules. Our caregivers learn which kosher certifications your family accepts, keep meat and dairy separate, and do not substitute products or improvise a standard. Practices differ by home, so we document them before the first shift and follow them.
How do you handle Shabbat and the Jewish holidays?
We prepare before sundown, take care with candle safety for a parent who is unsteady, and understand that a phone may go unanswered on Saturday. Caregivers follow the household's written preferences — and in an emergency they follow the care plan and emergency procedures without hesitation.
What if my parent wants to fast when it may not be safe?
We plan for fasting days with the family in advance. We never stop, delay, crush, or substitute a medication because of a fast or holiday without instructions from the prescribing clinician.
Do you provide dementia care for Jewish older adults?
Yes. Familiar blessings, melodies, foods, photographs, and the rhythm of a holiday can remain meaningful after ordinary conversation becomes difficult, and we build those into the care plan. We also provide trauma-informed care for Holocaust survivors, for whom personal care, unfamiliar uniforms, and closed doors can be distressing.
Can eligible Jewish veterans use VA benefits?
Colorado CareAssist is a VA Community Care provider with an established authorization and billing process. Eligible veterans may receive authorized in-home care through the VA. Eligibility, approved hours, and any cost-sharing are determined by the VA, not by us, and they vary by veteran.
Why use an agency instead of hiring a caregiver privately?
A private hire leaves the family with no backup when a caregiver is sick or quits, with employer liability and household-employer tax exposure, and with no supervision or care plan. With an agency, backup coverage, workers' compensation and insurance, supervision, and a written care plan are built in — and care can scale to 24-hour or live-in support when the time comes.
Where in Colorado do you serve Jewish families?
We serve Jewish families across Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and the Front Range — from a few hours a week to around-the-clock and live-in care.
Take the Next Step
Let’s talk about your parents
No pressure, no contracts. Tell us what is happening at home and we will tell you honestly what we would do.