Respite care for family caregivers in Englewood, CO: short breaks that fit a working week

What a break actually looks like

Respite means someone else covers the hours you cannot. For many families that is three hours on a Tuesday afternoon. For others it is a live-in caregiver who stays in the house for a few days so the family can travel, attend a sibling's wedding, or simply sleep in the same bed for a week. Both are ordinary requests, and both go better when the family says plainly what the person needs: bathing, meals, medication reminders, company, or all four. Englewood families rarely need a long explanation of what respite is. They need to know who can come on Tuesday, what it costs, and whether the same person can come again next week.

Families also ask whether the break counts as a service or a gift. It counts as a service, and the caregiver is paid for it. A parent who has been fetching their own prescriptions for years does not need a favor, they need a professional who is scheduled, arrives on time, and is still there next week.

Fitting the break around a working week

Our rate is $43 an hour for the Denver metro, which includes Englewood, with a three-hour minimum per visit. That means the smallest visit is $129, and two visits a week comes to roughly $1,032 a month. The number is worth looking at directly, because a real figure is easier to plan against than a vague promise of help. Most families settle on a rhythm: Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, or a three-hour visit every Monday, or a longer visit that covers a Saturday while a daughter runs errands.

Live-in care is priced differently, at a flat $650 a day, and it solves a different problem. When the person cannot safely be alone overnight, a caregiver living in the house changes the question from how do we get through today to how do we get through the month. Families use it for a stretch of days at a time, often around a trip or a procedure.

Because we do not use long-term contracts, a schedule can change. A caregiver who was scheduled for Tuesday afternoons can become Thursday afternoons when the family needs it, and nobody has to renegotiate a year-long agreement to make that happen.

An afternoon out in Englewood

The Malley Recreation Center, 3380 S. Lincoln St., phone 303-762-2660, is the city's hub for adults 55 and older, and its drop-in schedule fills an afternoon without asking anyone to commit to a week. The winter session includes table tennis, Scrabble open play, bingo with lunch available for guests 60 and over, a Death Cafe, a book group that meets the first Monday of the month, a Connections for Older Adults support group on Tuesdays, and a free movie the second Friday of each month. Check the current session schedule, since the calendar changes with the season. The center posts hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday, so check current hours before the first trip.

The Malley Social Pass covers the fitness center, game room, computers, bridge, bunco, billiards, table tennis and pickleball or drop-in gym time. One pass can be bought and left in the car door for a whole season, which makes a weekly trip into downtown Englewood feel ordinary instead of an event.

A younger adult in the household may prefer the Englewood Recreation Center at 1155 W. Oxford Ave., Englewood, CO 80110, phone 303-762-2680; check current hours before going, and note that the pool and locker rooms are closed until summer 2027 while the Renew and Recreate renovation is underway.

Lunch, groceries, and the ride to get there

Volunteers of America and the Malley Center serve a dine-in lunch Monday through Friday at 3380 S. Lincoln St., with a suggested donation and reservations required at least three days ahead at 303-762-2660. Check current times and rates when you call. Lunch at a table with other people in the room is often the best part of the week for someone who spends it alone at home.

Groceries are a smaller errand than they look. Sprouts Farmers Market store number 325 is at 5001 S. Broadway, Englewood, CO 80113, phone 720-612-6595; check current hours before you plan a trip. A caregiver can take a parent to the store and be back for the afternoon, or a daughter can do the shopping and spend the time she saved on something else. Most Englewood families find the store run is the easiest hour to hand off, because it is short and concrete, and the parent still gets to choose the vegetables.

Rides are the piece most families forget. DRCOG's Choice Services-Transportation provides free rides to personal and medical appointments for adults 60 and older across Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Gilpin counties, which includes Englewood. The Ride Line number listed on DRCOG's program page is 720-278-2345, so confirm it when you call. Meals on Wheels covers Arapahoe County as well, requires recipients to be 60 or older, and carries no charge: recipients are asked to contribute what they can afford, and no one is turned away for being unable to pay.

Making the break survive the week

The break that works is the one already on the calendar. Put it in as an appointment with the same start time each week, tell the rest of the family, and tell the person receiving care what the afternoon looks like in concrete terms rather than offering it as a favor.

Keep a second option in reserve. A sibling who can cover the next visit, a home health benefit that pays for a few hours after a hospitalization, a ride program for the appointment. Caregiving rarely fails because a family planned badly. It fails because there was one plan and no second one.

If you want to talk it through before you commit to anything, Colorado CareAssist offers a free 20-minute phone consultation and a free in-home assessment, at the home or by video, with no obligation to book. Call (303) 757-1777 and a real person answers.

Local resources in Englewood

• Malley's drop-in programs include table tennis, Scrabble open play, bingo with lunch available for guests 60 and older, a Death Cafe, a book group meeting the first Monday of the month, a Connections for Older Adults support group on Tuesdays, and a free movie the second Friday of each month; check the current session schedule. Source
• Malley Recreation Center hours are Mon-Thu 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Fri 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sat 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., closed Sunday; check current hours. Source
• The Malley Social Pass covers the fitness center, game room, computers, bridge, bunco, billiards, table tennis and pickleball or drop-in gym time at Malley. Source
• The Englewood Recreation Center is at 1155 W. Oxford Ave., Englewood, CO 80110, phone 303-762-2680; the pool and locker rooms are closed until summer 2027 for the Renew and Recreate renovation. Source
• Volunteers of America and the Malley Center serve a dine-in lunch Monday through Friday at 3380 S. Lincoln St.; reservations are required at least three days in advance at 303-762-2660, and a suggested donation applies, so check current times and rates. Source
• Sprouts Farmers Market store number 325 is at 5001 S. Broadway, Englewood, CO 80113, phone 720-612-6595; check current store hours. Source
• DRCOG's Choice Services-Transportation provides free rides for personal and medical appointments to adults 60 and older in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Gilpin counties; the Ride Line number on DRCOG's program page is 720-278-2345, so confirm it when you call. Source
• Volunteers of America's Meals on Wheels covers Arapahoe County, requires recipients to be 60 years of age or older, and carries no charge; recipients are asked to contribute what they can afford and no one is turned away for inability to pay. Source

More resources for Englewood families

• Dementia Care at Home in Englewood, CO
• Home Care After a Hospital Stay in Englewood
• How to Choose a Home Care Agency in Englewood
• Paying for Home Care in Englewood, CO