Cultivating creativity & connection – one moment at a time
Home care services in Calgary rooted in connection & creativity
Our personalized home care services are designed to support seniors and individuals living with dementia, helping them maintain independence, dignity, and joy in the comfort of home.
With a team of compassionate, highly trained caregivers, we provide private home care, respite care, dementia care, and senior companionship, ensuring every client receives exceptional, evidence-based care tailored to their unique needs.
What makes Aruga unique?
Home care is more than just assistance with daily tasks—it’s about preserving dignity, identity, and joy. At Aruga Home Care, we integrate creative engagement into every aspect of care, offering your loved one opportunities to express themselves, build connections, and experience moments of joy.
Through visual arts, storytelling, music, and interactive activities, we ensure that every client feels valued, seen, and empowered.
Aruga Pillars
Competency
Providing safe, reliable, and expert-led home care to seniors and individuals with dementia, ensuring the highest standard of care.
Creativity
Integrating visual arts, music, and storytelling into care plans to stimulate cognitive function and create meaningful engagement and connection.
Compassion
Fostering deep, trusting relationships that prioritize empathy, dignity, and emotional well-being.
Connection
Strengthening bonds between clients, families, and the Calgary community through collaborative caregiving and holistic support.
Our Founder
Ali Cada: Innovating senior & dementia care through creative engagement
Ali Cada is a recognized change maker and leader in elderly and dementia care, specializing in creative engagement programs that enhance the well-being of seniors. With a background in nursing, social entrepreneurship, and arts in medicine.
Ali’s mission is to make creative arts—music, visual arts, dance, poetry, and storytelling—accessible to all seniors, including those living with dementia, enriching their lives through meaningful engagement.
Ali served as Program Director for the Club 36 Adult Day Program at the Alzheimer Society of Calgary, where he helped implement person-centered dementia programs designed to support both seniors and their care partners.
During his time with Club 36, Ali collaborated with universities, healthcare institutions, and arts organizations to develop innovative care strategies.
He has worked with the University of Calgary Nursing Faculty, Community Rehabilitation, MRU Faculty of Nursing, Social Work and Massage Therapy Program, Bow Valley College Social Work Program, WP Puppet Theatre and Inside Out Theatre, to bring evidence-based dementia programs to seniors and caregivers.
He has pioneered intergenerational programs through creative arts as a medium to bridge the gap between seniors and younger generations.
Ali, a dedicated educator and advocate, has trained over 1,000 healthcare professionals and students in person-centered dementia care, introducing evidence-based creative programs such as Opening Minds Through Art (OMA), TimeSlips, Music and Memory, and the Alzheimer Poetry Project.
Through his leadership in Creative Aging Calgary, Ali continues to advance senior home care, dementia care, and creative arts engagement initiatives, making a lasting impact on Calgary’s aging community.
Ali Cada
Founder | Care & Creative Director
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BS. In Accountancy
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Associate in Science Degree – Nursing
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Associate of Applied Science Degree – Massage Therapy
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M.A. in Arts in Medicine, University of Florida
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Graduate Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship and Aging
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Dementia Care & Creative Arts Advocate
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Formerly, Program Director, Club 36 Adult Day Program, Alzheimer Society of Calgary
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President, Creative Aging Calgary Society
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Certified Facilitator & Trainer in Creative Programs:
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Leader in Evidence-Based, Person-Centred Dementia Care & Creative Arts Programs
Seniors engaged in social and creative activities show higher levels of happiness and connection, which can reduce loneliness and isolation – key factors in mental health decline.
Alzheimer’s Association
Holistic and personalized approaches to dementia care, like those integrating creativity, improve overall well-being, promote autonomy, and enhance mood stability.
Harvard Health
Research Papers
The following are research papers from Ali's Masters Degree. They are short reads, with a lot of information about the impact of creative arts on caregivers (families), clients, and care workers.
Dementia through the Lens of Positive Psychology and Arts
Quality of life is of the utmost importance in dementia, and the arts have a significant
role to play for people with dementia (PWD) to thrive, feel useful, and valued.
This research aims to explore the efficacy of the arts and their impact on the quality of life of dementia clients if viewed from a positive psychology perspective.
Dementia, Caregivers and Arts’ Health Benefits
Caring for someone living with dementia diagnosis pose burden on caregivers and can have negative consequences on their well-being. Due to the debilitating effects of the disease, keeping the quality of life as high as possible for caregivers is of utmost importance to maintain their ability to care for their loved ones.
This research explores the effects of the arts on their health and their role as caregivers.
Evaluating Visual Art Workshop Participation for the Well-being of Caregivers of Individuals Living with Dementia
The increasing prevalence of dementia and the absence of effective treatments have underscored the importance of engaging in creative arts to improve caregiver well-being.
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of participating in visual art workshops on the well-being of family caregivers of people with dementia.