Home Care in
Sri Lanka
for Chicago Families.
Home care in Sri Lanka for Chicago families has to work across ten and a half hours and a winter that can close an airport for a day. BetterHands puts a vetted carer in your parents home, writes up every shift, and agrees with you in advance what happens while Chicago is asleep.
Central Time
An hour further out than the coast
10½ hrs
Behind Colombo
1,000+
Carer profiles
Vetted and reference-checked
72 Hours
Placement guarantee
Or we escalate immediately
96%
First-match success
50+ matching factors
PHSRC
Registered nurses
For clinical home nursing
A Midwestern community, built around work
Why Chicago Families Arrange Home Care in Sri Lanka.
Chicago holds a substantial South Asian population, and the Sri Lankan part of it sits within it rather than apart from it, from Devon Avenue through Skokie and out to Schaumburg and Naperville.
The work is largely healthcare, technology and finance, with a strong contingent in the hospital systems. Many arrived through study or a job rather than through family already settled.
That means the wider community is large but the specifically Sri Lankan network is thinner than it looks. Professional home care is often the first structured option families find.
- Households inside a large South Asian community but a small Sri Lankan one
- Parents who never emigrated, so no US entitlement applies to them
- Hospital and shift work that makes a fixed calling time impractical
- Winters that make emergency travel genuinely unreliable
Ten and a half hours, and an hour behind the coast
Calling Colombo from Chicago: Finding the Window.
Chicago runs on Central Time, ten and a half hours behind Colombo in summer and eleven and a half in winter. Consequently the evening window closes earlier here than it does in New York.
Your morning, their evening
Seven in the morning in Chicago is half past five in the evening in Colombo. Your parents are settled and the day carer is still on shift.
Your evening is their small hours
Eight at night here is half past six the next morning in Colombo. Workable at a push, though earlier than most families want to wake a parent.
The update lands overnight
The Colombo shift closes around six in the evening, which is half past seven that morning in Chicago. The write-up is normally there before your commute.
Why the Central Time hour matters
It sounds trivial, but being an hour further from Colombo than the East Coast shifts the whole pattern. The comfortable morning window here is earlier, and the late-evening option closes sooner.
Because the shift record is written rather than phoned, none of that has to be solved by finding a perfect hour. You read it when the day allows, and call when there is a reason to.
Agreed in advance, not invented at 3am
Decisions to Make Before You Need Them.
A January storm at O’Hare can cost you a day before you have left the country, so nothing urgent should be waiting on your arrival.
Who we ring first
One named person in Chicago, and one contact in Sri Lanka who can physically attend. Both agreed and written down before the placement begins.
Which hospital
Named in advance with a second choice, so nobody is choosing a hospital from a Chicago kitchen at three in the morning.
What proceeds without you
Hospital and shift work means you may be unreachable for hours. We agree in advance what the carer and our office may simply decide.
What we can put in place
Home Care Services for Your Parents in Sri Lanka.
Where our Chicago families live
Serving Sri Lankan Families Across Chicago.
The care always happens in Sri Lanka. What changes across Chicagoland is chiefly the work, and how far a household sits from the older South Asian districts.
Devon Avenue
The historic South Asian corridor and still the cultural anchor, even for families who long since moved to the suburbs.
Skokie
Close in and long-established, with a settled professional community and easy access to the city.
Schaumburg
North-west suburban and technology-weighted, with many households arriving through corporate employment.
Naperville
Further west and family-oriented, where households are often the only Sri Lankan family on the street.
Before you commit
What Chicago Families Ask Before They Commit.
Does Medicare cover care for my parents in Sri Lanka?
No. Medicare almost never pays for care outside the United States, and it covers you rather than a parent overseas. Neither Illinois nor any federal programme funds home care in Colombo, so the arrangement is private throughout.
I work hospital shifts. Can this work?
Yes. The welfare update is written after every shift rather than phoned, so nothing depends on you being free at a set hour, and the escalation plan assumes you may be unreachable.
Who is accountable if standards slip?
BetterHands is. Carers are employed and payrolled through us, not introduced and forgotten. One team owns the placement, there is a number to ring, and the replacement guarantee has no cap.
Where the care actually happens
Island-wide coverage in Sri Lanka.
BetterHands coordinates carers from our office in Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, just outside Colombo. Placements run island-wide, including Kandy, Galle, Negombo, Matara and Jaffna.
No district loading applies. A placement two hours from the capital costs the same daily rate as one in Colombo 7. Families discharged from the National Hospital of Sri Lanka or private hospitals are transitioned home directly.
BetterHands (Pvt) Ltd
200 Narahenpita - Nawala Rd, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte 11222, Sri Lanka
+94 74 21 21 744Transparent pricing
Membership first, then simple daily rates.
One annual membership covers coordination, payroll and unlimited carer replacements. After that you pay a flat daily rate for the level of care your parents need. Fees are charged in Sri Lankan rupees.
BetterHands Annual Membership
LKR 20,000
One-time annual registration fee
- Unlimited caregiver replacements at no additional cost if you are not satisfied
- Payroll management and caregiver administration
- Ongoing coordination and support from the BetterHands team
- Access to all services covered under the BetterHands membership
Step two — daily service rates
Duties below are what each role normally provides — your care plan is tailored during the free assessment.
Caregiver
Daily living support and companionship
LKR 4,500/day
Most families start here — a parent who is managing, but should not be alone all day.
- Friendly conversation and companionship
- Bathing and personal care assistance (if required)
- Medication reminders and general supervision
- Simple meals and refreshments
- Short walks and light activities (if appropriate)
- Day-to-day assistance and emotional support
Nursing Assistant
Personal care plus basic clinical support
LKR 6,000/day
Common where diabetes, blood pressure or early-stage dementia needs daily monitoring.
- Everything in the caregiver role
- Vital signs monitoring (BP, blood sugar, SpO₂)
- Medication reminders and administration support
- Basic wound and continence care
Professional Nurse
Complex medical and post-operative needs
LKR 9,000/day
Usually after a hospital discharge, a stroke, or where wounds and IV care are involved.
- Everything in the nursing assistant role
- PHSRC-registered clinical nursing
- Wound care, injections, and IV therapy
- Catheter, NG tube, and post-operative care
Daily rates are charged in addition to the one-time annual registration fee of LKR 20,000. The same daily rates apply to day care, night care and live-in support — no shift premiums, no travel supplements for any district. Hospital bystander cover is priced by shift length instead — see that service page for its packages. A free care assessment is provided before any commitment.
A one-way transfer for the caregiver is arranged at the start of placement.
Families we look after
Trusted with the people who raised us.
“BetterHands transformed my mother's quality of life. The caregivers are professional, compassionate, and treat her with so much dignity. Our whole family is relieved and grateful.”
Chamari W.
Colombo 07
“After my father's heart surgery at Lanka Hospitals, the nursing team from BetterHands provided exceptional post-operative care at home. They were thorough, kind, and always on time.”
Roshan & Dilini P.
Nugegoda
“My grandfather was very lonely after being discharged from hospital. His BetterHands companion has become a true friend — he is happier and more engaged than he's been in years.”
Priya N.
Kandy
Questions from Chicago
Frequently Asked Questions from Chicago Families.
Yes. BetterHands runs a free assessment with your parents in Sri Lanka, matches a carer, and sends a written welfare update after every shift. You approve the plan and pay from the US without travelling.
Ten and a half hours in summer and eleven and a half in winter, with Colombo ahead. Chicago runs on Central Time, an hour further from Sri Lanka than the East Coast.
No. Every itinerary connects at least once, most often through Doha, Dubai, Istanbul or a European hub. Journeys run past twenty-four hours, and winter weather at O’Hare adds real risk.
No. Medicare almost never pays for care outside the United States, and it covers you rather than a parent overseas. Neither Illinois nor any federal programme funds home care in Colombo, so the arrangement is private throughout.
Not for arranging care. Most of our US families have parents who never emigrated, which means no American entitlement applies and the arrangement is private from the start.
Most placements begin within seventy-two hours of an approved care plan. Where a parent is being discharged from hospital we work to the discharge date instead.
We replace them, with no cap on replacements inside your membership year. Carers are employed by BetterHands rather than introduced, so a change is our problem to solve.
Yes. Language is a formal matching factor alongside cooking, religious observance, temperament and medical experience, agreed before the placement begins.
BetterHands nurses are registered with Sri Lanka's Private Health Services Regulatory Council. Medicare, Medicaid and any Illinois programme cover care delivered in the United States only. Confirm your own position with Medicare.
A storm at O’Hare should not decide your father’s week.
From Chicago a trip to Colombo is a full day at best, and in January it is a gamble. Meanwhile the help your parents need is a daily matter, not an occasional one.
A vetted carer in the house. Home nursing when the condition calls for it. A written update after every shift, waiting before your Chicago morning starts.
The assessment costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Sometimes it ends with us saying your parents need very little. Either way the arrangement stops depending on a forecast.
Check it yourself
Sources and further reading for Chicago families.
Entitlements and health guidance change. These are the official sources — go to them rather than taking our word for it.
Your parents are in Sri Lanka.
We are already there.
A 15-minute call before your Chicago workday, not at two in the morning. We will tell you plainly what your parents need.
1,000+
Caregiver profiles
96%
First-match success
Trained
Caregiver training
72
Hours to placement