In-home dementia care in Wellington

Updated October 13, 2026

Dementia care in Wellington usually has to fit around a working household: parents who commute, kids with school and riding lessons, and a grandparent at home who needs company during the day.

Wellington families and the long workday

Wellington is a village of about 63,000 people (2025 Census estimate) in central Palm Beach County, west of Florida’s Turnpike. It incorporated only in 1995. Median household income is above $115,000, and the average commute to work is about 32 minutes each way, compared with about 26 minutes in Boynton Beach and 23 in Palm Beach Gardens. About 17.6 percent of residents are 65 or older, a smaller share than in Boynton Beach or Palm Beach Gardens.

That mix produces a common situation. A parent or in-law moves into the family home, often after a spouse dies. Everyone else leaves by 7:30am and returns after 6pm. If the parent is in the early or middle stages of dementia, those ten hours can bring missed meals, a stove left on, or long, lonely afternoons in front of the TV.

A Wellington weekday, covered

A companion turns the empty middle of the day into a routine your loved one can count on. A typical visit:

1. Arrive mid-morning, after the household has left. Breakfast dishes, a check of the medication reminder chart, a cup of coffee together.
2. A short outing before the heat: a slow walk on the boardwalk at Peaceful Waters Sanctuary or a stop at the Wellington Branch library.
3. Lunch at home, cooked together where possible.
4. A quiet afternoon activity, such as music, photos, folding laundry, or a puzzle, then a calm handoff when the first family member walks in.
5. A short note to the family on mood, meals and anything unusual.

Our page on dementia and living alone applies here too. Many parents in multi-generational homes are, in practice, alone for most of the day. The daily routine planner helps you write the day down.

Pairing an adult day center with home visits

Wellington has one of Alzheimer’s Community Care’s specialized Alzheimer’s adult day centers, at St. Michael Lutheran Church. Day centers offer structured activities and the company of other people, and they cost far less per hour than one-to-one care. CareScout’s 2025 survey put Florida’s median for adult day health care at about $19,500 a year.

Many Wellington families combine the two. The day center covers three or four weekdays; a companion covers the days it does not, the late-afternoon gap before a parent gets home from work, or the mornings when your loved one refuses to go. Our comparison of adult day care and in-home respite and the guide to adult day programs explain the trade-offs.

Spanish-speaking companions in Wellington

About 28.5 percent of Wellington residents are Hispanic, and about a third speak a language other than English at home, according to the Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 figures. A parent who moved here from Colombia, Puerto Rico or Venezuela to be near grandchildren may lose English first as dementia advances. Ask for a Spanish-speaking companion when you call. Relatives can read our guía de cuidado de relevo in Spanish.

Season, traffic and scheduling in Wellington

From January through April, Wellington hosts the Winter Equestrian Festival, which bills itself as the world’s largest and longest-running horse show. The village holds more than 40 weeks of equestrian competition a year, and many local jobs follow the horse calendar.

We schedule companions who live in or near the western communities, so a slow day on Forest Hill Boulevard, State Road 7 or Southern Boulevard does not leave your loved one waiting. If your family works in the horse business and your hours change with the season, visits can change too, with no contract to renegotiate.

Outdoors, gently

• Peaceful Waters Sanctuary. A 30-acre wetland in Village Park on Pierson Road with a boardwalk of about 1,500 feet. Birders report herons, ibises and, in winter, roseate spoonbills.
• Wellington Environmental Preserve. A 365-acre preserve farther west with about three miles of paved paths and an observation tower. Better for a short drive and a bench than a long walk.
• Wellington Branch library. A Palm Beach County Library System branch, cool on summer afternoons.

Outings stay short and early in the day from May to October. Our guide to dehydration and heat illness explains why the Florida summer is harder on people with dementia.

Hospitals and memory clinics near Wellington

Wellington Regional Medical Center, opened in 1986 and operated by Universal Health Services, has a large emergency department and is a certified stroke center. HCA Florida Palms West Hospital also serves the western communities. A companion can escort your loved one to appointments and send you notes, so you do not have to leave work for every visit.

For a memory evaluation, Palm Beach County’s state-designated clinics are the Memory Disorder Center at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach and FAU’s Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center in Boca Raton, (561) 297-0502. Diagnosis and treatment are for your loved one’s doctor.

Sample weeks of dementia care in Wellington

Our rate is $35/hour for 40+ hours a week; call us about shorter schedules. The first suits a parent home alone all day. The second and third pair with an adult day center. For comparison, CareScout’s 2025 Florida median for a private one-bedroom in assisted living was about $67,320 a year. See the dementia care cost calculator to try your own schedule.

When a parent moves in with you

Bringing a parent with dementia into your home is a big change for everyone, and the first weeks are often the hardest. New rooms, new noises and a new daily rhythm can make confusion and restlessness worse for a while. A few steps help:

• Get a full medical evaluation if your parent has not had one. Some causes of confusion, such as infections or medication side effects, are treatable.
• Set up the guest room with familiar things: their own bedspread, photos, a favorite chair, the radio station they always played.
• Keep the same wake-up time, meals and walk each day, and use the same companion so the faces stay familiar.
• Put Florida legal documents in place early, such as a durable power of attorney and a health care surrogate designation.

Our legal and financial planning guide covers the documents, and helping children understand dementia is written for the grandchildren living under the same roof. When your parent says ‘I want to go home’ even though they are home, our guide to that common phrase explains how to respond calmly.

Help in the western communities

• Area Agency on Aging of Palm Beach/Treasure Coast, 1-866-684-5885. Screening for Alzheimer’s Disease Initiative respite (in-home, facility, emergency or extended up to 30 days) and caregiver support.
• Alzheimer’s Community Care, (561) 683-2700. The Wellington day center plus Family Navigators.
• Alzheimer’s Association Helpline, 800-272-3900, with bilingual staff and interpreters.
• Medicare GUIDE model. Ask your loved one’s doctor; eligible patients can receive up to $2,500 a year toward respite.

Nearby areas we serve

Our West Palm Beach page lists county-wide resources. We also serve Palm Beach Gardens, Boynton Beach and Jupiter. Call (689) 333-6079, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm ET.

Watch a caregiver before you choose

Families watch video interviews like these and choose their companion. No one is sent to your parent's home until you have watched them and said yes.

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