I admire those who are at the heart of Stein Hospice. Both our parents passed within a few weeks of…read moreeach other and Dr. Burkholder and her team of amazing nurses helped us so much through this heavy time. They treated my parents and us with dignity and grace. Thank you!

We had an awful experience. While my dad was en route, via ambulance from Cleveland Clinic in Avon,…read moremy mom and I got to Stein 20 minutes early. When we got off the elevator, there was no one there to greet us, but oh well, we were early (a general sign in the lobby area would be nice if you can't afford to have someone there to greet visitors). When I found a nurse sitting at a computer, I introduced myself and asked which room would be for my dad (we were told to bring items from home to make the room feel more comfortable) so we could lay out the blanket and set pictures on the bedside table. The nurse literally looked at me up and down, sighed heavily and told me "he's not here" and went back to her computer. I explained, again, that we were early and if his room was ready, could we just go see it and set up his things. I would have been fine if the answer was "no," but it was how she spoke to me that was the issue. After my 2nd explanation, she said "yeah, he'll be over there. there's some paperwork on the table in there you can fill out while you wait"... and again turned to the computer. So I go get my mom from the lobby, find the room with his name on it, and get situated. In his final days, my dad drank a lot of orange juice, so I went out to find anyone who worked there to see if they had orange juice available. The same nurse from before was at the computer, so I (politely) excused myself, apologized for the interruption, and asked my question. She sighed heavily and said they did have juice, but it was "for the patients," and if I could leave her alone she would be able to get things done so they could actually be ready for him (while waving her hands in the air in frustration/disgust). At Cleveland Clinic the hospice representative (who we LOVED btw) told us that my dads meds would stop while en route to hospice, but they would medicate him right before he left and he would immediately be hooked up to the exact same meds when he got to Stein. So when my dad arrived and no one started an IV, I asked the nurse (not my friend from earlier) what was going on. She said they "don't do" IVs at Stein and that my dad would be given morphine because they don't have fentanyl. At this point I'm mad because my dad went from IV fentanyl every 15 minutes to a morphine shot every 30 minutes. The nurse says she will try and get in touch with the doctor on call to see if anything could be done. While at Cleveland Clinic, my dads pain was well managed and he was able to rest. He spent his first 5 hours at hospice moaning and visibly agitated from the pain. The night nurse was the one who told us they do have stuff more powerful than morphine, and she immediately got the doctor to make changes to the med protocol. My father was finally able to rest, after hours of pain, and passed peacefully a couple hours later. I'd like to also mention that I left out a number of other incidents involving a nurse yelling, scolding, or talking down to me or a member of my family... but the most important take-away is that we were told my father would be kept comfortable and he would be given the same care at Stein that he was getting at Cleveland Clinic. That did not happen, and on top of that, we were treated like crap. Finally, I don't think the rep at Cleveland Clinic lied to us, I think she is unaware that Stein does not operate like the other Western Reserve locations she also represents.