CommunityPlus Care provides senior healthcare navigation and patient advocacy across Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. We help older adults and their families understand BC's health-care system, access the right services, and be heard at every step: at home, in hospital, and everywhere in between.
What is healthcare navigation?
A healthcare navigator is a professional who helps patients and families move through a complex health system: figuring out which programs apply, completing assessments and applications, coordinating between doctors, hospitals and community services, and following up until things actually happen. In British Columbia that system spans government healthcare programs, private providers, and dozens of community organizations, and no one hands families a map.
A senior advocate adds a voice to that map-reading. Advocates attend appointments, ask the questions families don't know to ask, make sure concerns are documented, and keep care decisions anchored to what the older adult actually wants. Navigation gets you through the system; advocacy makes sure the system hears you.
What we help with
- Government Healthcare Navigation: requesting government home and community care assessments, preparing for the case manager's visit, and understanding the care plan that comes out of it.
- Long-term care and assisted living: applications, preferred-facility choices, keeping assessments current, and responding to placement offers.
- Hospital discharge planning: making sure home supports, equipment and follow-up are actually in place before discharge day, not after.
- Benefits and paperwork: SAFER rental assistance, Veterans Affairs programs, CSIL (Choice in Supports for Independent Living), BC Palliative Care Benefits, and the forms that go with all of them.
- Medical appointments: accompaniment, note-taking, helping clients ask their questions, and a plain-language recap for family afterward.
- Specialist referrals: tracking where a referral sits and following up so it doesn't quietly stall.
- Family coordination: regular, honest updates for adult children and powers of attorney, wherever they live.
Who this is for
Seniors living at home who want to stay there, and need the system organized around that goal. Family caregivers who are doing the coordination themselves and hitting walls: phone trees, waitlists, referrals that go nowhere. And adult children living off-Island who need trusted eyes, ears and a steady local contact for a parent on Vancouver Island.
Where we work
All of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. That includes Greater Victoria, the Westshore, Sidney and the Saanich Peninsula, Sooke, the Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo, Parksville-Qualicum, the Comox Valley, Campbell River, Port Alberni, Tofino-Ucluelet, the North Island, and Salt Spring and the southern Gulf Islands.
How it works
It starts with a phone conversation about what's going on. No forms, no commitment, and for most navigation and advocacy support, no charge. From there we will help you find the local services and resources to meet your needs. If you need dedicated time to assist with calling organizations on your behalf and organizing aspects of your life or care, that support is provided by our caregivers during their visits, with direction from our office, and the service is charged at caregiving rates. See Rates + Services.
Why CommunityPlus Care
We know this system because we mapped it ourselves. Our team maintains the Vancouver Island Care Services Directory, a free public map of community care services across the Island, along with a public caregiver education library. We're locally owned, Living Wage certified, and we've been walking families through this system every day since we opened. When we tell you how the process works, it's because we were inside it this morning.
Frequently asked questions
What does a healthcare navigator do for seniors?
A healthcare navigator helps seniors and families move through the health-care system: identifying the right programs, completing assessments and applications, coordinating between providers, and following up until things happen. An advocate adds a voice: attending appointments, asking hard questions, and keeping decisions anchored to the older adult's wishes.
How do I get my parent assessed for home support on Vancouver Island?
Publicly subsidized home support runs through the government's Home and Community Care program. Anyone can request an assessment (a doctor's referral is not required), and a case manager then determines eligibility and hours. We help families prepare for that assessment, present the full picture of daily needs, and follow up on what was promised.
Can you help with long-term care and assisted living waitlists?
Yes. We help with applications and preferred-facility choices, keep assessments current as needs change, and help families understand and respond to placement offers. Timelines vary widely by community and facility, so realistic planning matters, and that is exactly what we do.
Do you replace government case managers?
No. Case managers work within the public system; we work for you, alongside it. We prepare you for those conversations, translate what's decided, and carry the follow-through between contacts.
Can someone attend medical appointments with my parent?
Yes. We accompany clients to appointments, take notes, help them ask their own questions, and give family a plain-language recap afterward.
I live off-Island. Can you be my parent's local contact?
Yes, and it's one of the most common reasons families call us. We act as eyes and ears on the ground, coordinate local services, and keep you informed no matter where you live.
What does senior advocacy cost?
Most navigation and advocacy support is free. We will help you find the local services and resources to meet your needs at no charge. If you need dedicated time to assist with calling organizations on your behalf and organizing aspects of your life or care, our caregivers provide that during their visits with direction from our office, and the service is charged at caregiving rates. See Rates + Services or call 250-658-6508.
Which areas do you serve?
All of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands: Greater Victoria, the Westshore and Saanich Peninsula through the Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo, Parksville-Qualicum, the Comox Valley and Campbell River, out to Port Alberni and the West Coast, up to the North Island, plus Salt Spring and the southern Gulf Islands.
Talk to a navigator today: 250-658-6508 (toll-free 855-658-6508) or send us a message. Coordination line answered 8 AM to 6 PM daily.