The staff here is incredibly friendly, helpful, and caring. I have no complaints whatsoever. It was…read morea peaceful place to spend the last few days I had with my dad.

Their hospice facility might look impressive, but don't be distracted by appearances. What really…read morematters is the quality of care your loved one will receive. If you have Medicare, be aware that a Care Dimensions administrator must certify that your loved one is in the final stages of life before they can be admitted to the hospice facility, in order for Medicare to cover all costs. Otherwise, you'll pay out of pocket -- and that could be around $700/day to stay at this facility. If the patient has Medicare coverage, and is not in absolute final stages of life, they get the home hospice version of treatment. Which is not good. My husband suffered under their "care" during home hospice. One nurse told me after witnessing that he was throwing up all his meds and that included painkillers, nausea medications, and anti-anxiety medicine, that he couldn't be hospitalized because he wasn't "actively dying" yet. When he was gasping for breath and in pain, the nurse told him the medicine would kick in, in an hour and to RELAX. Do not risk that your loved one's last hours will be spent in agony because of this company's incompetence and lack of respect for human suffering. Have to rate in order to post, otherwise would give a 0-star rating.

Most attentive care. Staff support and compassion incredible. We have had several other hospice…read moreexperiences. None come so close to begin to compare! Thank you for making my loved one's passage so supportive

Our family can not thank Dr. Robert Cohen, RN's Sherry Meagan and Karl, Aides Lynn and Ciera…read more(Ci-Ci) as well as Lisa - the Social Worker for the love and care they provided our loved one as well as us through this painful transition. We have never experienced such caring and loving people! They made us feel that our loved one was their loved one. We can never thank you all enough for what you all have done! You all have touched our hearts deeply. Thank you for your professionalism, love and support during a very difficult time. You all made a difference and we owe you a debt of gratitude for all you did for us. God bless you all.

I cannot say enough wonderful things about this home care agency. From the very first interactions,…read morethe Firstlight team demonstrated compassion, professionalism, and dedication to providing the highest level of care. Every caregiver who supported my mother (who can be difficult at times) treated her with dignity, patience, and kindness, creating an atmosphere of trust and comfort that immediately put our entire family at ease. The staff went above and beyond to ensure all needs were met. Communication with Firstlight was always clear, reliable, and reassuring. I have to give a special shout out to Elise, who I primarily communicated with from Firstlight. She was always responsive, flexible, and proactive, which made an incredibly stressful time feel manageable. Her weekly updates helped my family work with the team to be proactive for next visits. That was greatly appreciated. Firstlight takes the time to understand individual preferences, routines, and personalities. Their attention to detail and compassion gave us peace of mind knowing our mom was in the best possible hands. If you are looking for a home care agency that delivers service with integrity and professionalism, I wholeheartedly recommend them.

The ladies are sweet enough, the owners were a bit demanding on criteria. . First light didn't…read morereally listen to my needs, so on some days it was a hit or miss. If you are someone seeking long-term care top dollar pricing, this may be a good fit. What I did like about them is that every single person showed up on time. Some aids had their own special talents. One was a champion towel folder, and then Jenny was intimidated By the way those towers were folded and opted to keep them in a plastic bag, and then demanded that I folded my own towels. Jenny scented in Jimmy Choo perfume at $150 a bottle, but still needs training in customer service, listening skills and most importantly mindfulness. Had this awful habit of picking something up and putting it down and then forgetting where it was and spent 30 minutes of my time, looking for something things that she put down because she wasn't paying attention. Then out of frustration questioned me on why I needed this item. I found her to be wasteful. Some of the other ladies were respectful and delightful. I just can't think of their names at this moment. And then of course my favorite. KIARA! OMG, what a GEM! Always willing to do whatever I asked. Genuinely happy to come back. We formed a real kinship. She is a registered nurse and I believe The higher education made the difference in this scenario. Through her training to become a nurse she taught me a little tips and tricks that I can use for myself, things that I will treasure forever. FIRSTLIGHT, gives the impression that they'd like to be better than the competitors, and I do believe that they are and that their effort to unite the caregivers with an online training is wise. I would only suggest that they throw in a couple of new classes every now and again , so nothing else slips through the cracks. I have to add Kiara is a true asset to your company, & I hope you value her as much as I did.

If you are looking at Yelp for guidance about choosing a hospice, you probably are desperately…read moresearching while feeling the pressure of the clock ticking. Even though we had the recommendation of our mother's independent living facility, that's how it felt for our family. So, with nothing more than a 10-minute visit from a nurse who acted more as a salesperson, we signed on to Good Shepherd for at-home "care." In retrospect, of all of the regrets I've had in life, this decision tops my list. One of the main reasons we chose the path of hospice at all was because he told us that, instead of needing to call 911 and having our mother end up in the ER, we would be able to pick up the phone and have instant access to a nurse with answers. Instant often turned out to be 35-40 minutes, with callbacks from overworked, beleaguered on-call staff. When we reached out to the nurse/salesperson by email--twice--with concerns, he did not respond. When the nurse we were assigned called to schedule an initial visit, her very first words were that she had 7 other appointments at our mom's independent living facility before she could get to us. The implicit message: get in line. When we met her, she seemed exhausted, not particularly engaged or warm but competent and knowledgeable. As it turned out, she would be the highlight of our experience with GS Hospice. My sister met with a social worker and instructed her about a matter to avoid if she spoke with me. The social worker called me to "check in" and immediately raised the very issue that my sister told her to avoid. It happens that another family at our mom's independent living facility and whose own mother was also in GS Hospice care had the same social worker. Before we said a word, they described the social worker this way: "She's 12," referring to her emotional age and maturity. The social worker cheerfully called my sister later to check in, oblivious to her mistake. When my sister reminded her, the social worker burst into tears. It gets worse: When we brought these and other concerns to the CEO of the hospice, he was dismissive and defensive, suggesting that these criticisms were clouded by grief. In other words, people who are grieving aren't capable of making rational observations, a condescending and, in this case, self-serving response. GS Hospice provides the services of a grief counselor for the family. Ours called me twice. Each time, I told her I was not interested in grief counseling but the second time, I offered to provide feedback about the experience our family was having with the Hospice and revealed to her that we were planning to take our concerns to the board. The next day, the CEO wrote to my brother trying to dissuade us from contacting the board. Clearly, this counselor went to her boss and disclosed a conversation which should have been held confidential by the standards of every mental health profession. We elevated our concerns to the board. We told them we were not interested in condolences or apologies and had no interest in litigation--that our goal was simply to make sure other families did not endure the same experience. Initially, we received what seemed to be an appropriate reply that suggested they would investigate. We offered the board to call us with any questions. They never did. Instead, we received a carefully crafted reply clearly written by their lawyers absolving themselves of any responsibility. Initially, our assumption with their staff was that they had plenty of caring, compassionate, professionals and that we had simply drawn the short straw. GS Hospice is a large organization but we had naively assumed that as a nonprofit with a long history, they would be patient and family centered. Instead, they turned out to be more like their hedge-fund owned competitors: understaffed, relying on inexperienced practitioners, and responding to concerns from a legal rather than ethical perspective. No large organization is going to have a perfect staff but when leadership is lacking, the problems become systemic and the agency becomes dysfunctional, the outcome for us with GS Hospice. It cost us profoundly in the care of our mother and compounded a family crisis that comes with such a profound loss.

I knew some people who had used Good Shepard for their family member's home-based hospice care and…read morethey all praised the organization and expressed gratitude. So when my husband needed hospice care, I turned to Good Shepard. I expected that as a non-profit organization that their resources would be fully focused on caring for the patient and the family. My son (who took intermittent family leave) and I provided all the hands on care for my husband under the guidance of the hospice nurses. My husband told me that talking to his hospice nurse and her oversight made him feel less anxious. And he was very relieved that his pain/discomfort was managed so well. He had an assigned primary nurse M-F and weekend nurses visited as needed. We had frequent visits in the last few weeks. All our calls when things were difficult in the night were managed quickly and well. I highly recommend Good Shepard to other patients and families.

My experience with Seasons Hospice is that they support the Health Care Proxy only and do not…read moresupport family members. They will not talk with you, return your phone calls or emails. When I called looking for someone to talk with confidentially about my own anguish they put me in touch with the social worker who after we spoke, called the health care proxy and broke confidentiality and told them of my call to them. I have no idea how my mother is doing except through the health care proxy who is not able to keep me fully informed. The nursing facility where she is has been shut down for 3 weeks and have offered no compassionate visits with her and Season's Hospice will not return my calls. I gave them 2 stars because the staff that I did speak with seemed compassionate and I would rather have them see her then leave her in the hands of a non-caring nursing home.

Miserable hospice. snippy nurse, under-aged, inexperienced social worker all combined for…read moreunnecessary drama at the end of life experience for my beautiful husband suffering from body-wracking merciless cancer. It should have been a calm ending, they only hastened his death by absolute incompetence and upping a situation that was complex enough. Social worker should start looking for another job at a call center where she could put her two cents in at a comparable salary.

After placing a relative here, it's now five months later and so far, so good. Of course, the place…read moreshe was in before was so horrible that being in a Russian prison would've been a step upwards. So just the fact that they don't starve them is a good move in the right direction.

MaristHill Nursing and Rehab Center is a decidedly mixed bag. On the one hand, there are many…read morecaring and kind staff members -- nurses, aides, and administrators. Still, there are others who can be very curt with the residents. When I visited my parent there, I witnessed some of this first-hand. I worried that if the aides behaved that way when I was there, how might they behave when I was not. My parent was not the easiest of residents. Could be very impatient and demanding. On some occasions though, particularly when they needed to use the bathroom, an aide may not arrive for 15-20 minutes. Often I assisted my parent before an accident occurred. I believe that part of the problem is that the staff is small, a situation made worse by the COVID19 virus, which saw many on staff need to take time off. Even before this, however, there were too many residents for each aide. I also suspect that the pay is low, as there is so much turnover. One final note: their response to the COVID19 virus was exemplary. Residents were confined to their rooms before other facilities in the area did so. My parent was tested twice for the virus (negative both times). Families were kept up to date by several letters from the president of MaristHill. All in all, I believe that my parent was fairly well-taken care of, given the ratio of staff to residents. My advice, though, is to tour several facilities before choosing one, and try to talk to the families of residents if at all possible. This can be difficult on a tour of the facility, but possible. Also, read up on the Massachusetts ratings for nursing homes. They can be found online. Good luck!

We were so fortunate to have an amazingly compassionate, thoughtful and caring hospice team at…read moreFaith and Family. All members of the team were tightly coordinated and in sync in supporting us as my husband's transition accelerated after a very painful fracture of the shoulder. From Faith, a very experienced hospice aide, to McKenzie, the case manager who visited us almost every day, to Connie the weekend nurse whose wisdom, insight and patience carried us forward, to Catherine, the social worker, Valerie, Reiki specialist, and Frank the Chaplin - all brought unique and supportive perspectives as we navigated this challenging time. My husband and I wanted to do hospice at home and as his decline accelerated, this hospice team made the journey possible. I am forever grateful for the wonderful care my husband received and the comfort care my family was given. I would strongly recommend this hospice! Hard to express how truly outstanding the team was!!

Faith & family hospice has the most compassionate staff. From the beginning, with our intake…read morenurse,Emily to our primary nurse, Lindsay we were treated with respect, caring & expertise. If someone was unable to answer a question, they admitted it & got the answer for us. As a nurse, I can be very picky with medical care. We were so lucky to have Lindsay as the primary nurse for my mother in law. She guided the entire family ( 6 children!!!) through the dying process. She was able to anticipate needs of everyone & facilitated them, while always putting my mother in law first. She was also able to arrange for a well needed massage from Poppy who was perfect. I cannot say enough about this hospice team!!! The best- don't go anywhere else.

Visiting Angels are great people to work with. They are very responsive to requests and able to…read moreprovide advice and help tailored to our mother's needs.

I use Visiting Angels to look after my mother while I live overseas. So far I am overwhelmed at…read morethe response my mother has had to the quality of care she receives. The people who look after my mother are incredibly kind and loving. We've used other agencies and had other folks in our home that are just there to go through the motions... Visiting Angels provide TRUE companionship for the elderly. They talk, the listen, they care and the respond. Most importantly for me is that I have a great caseworker who keeps me in the loop with things that occur in the house. She is a great resource for suggestions on how to handle tricky situations and also a great resource to coordinate things like food deliveries and other things that take place in the house while I am away. If you are reading this you have a loved one that needs support, it is a stressful situation and you sometimes feel like anything you do will be a mistake. I'm here to say that Visiting Angels eliminated so much of that anxiety for my family. Please engage with them and see how they can do the same for you.

I worked for parmenter hospice yrs ago had them for 3family members with great service. Just now…read morehad them care was awful.never again

We had a great experience with Parmenter in home Hospice. The nurses were knowledgeable,…read moreprofessional and compassionate, the home health aid Marie who came to wash and change my father was caring, competent and connected with my father with her kindness at a time when few others could connect with him. The support system such as social worker, chaplain and office were also very supportive and did all they could to support us through this difficult time. We never felt alone because they were just a phone call away and would come as quickly as possible. They are new in our area, so there is little information about their services, but I highly recommend them.