My child's father was taken in for hospice there after being diagnosed with cancer. The staff was…read moreamazing and very caring beautiful place inside and out. I definitely would recommend this place.

My brother in law spent his last days here. The rooms are beautiful and the ability to wheel the…read morebed outside on the private patio meant a lot to my family.

It's been almost 3 months since my dear friend passed away at Sawtelle and the care he received…read morestill disturbs me. I live out of state and came up to Massachusetts for two days to be with my friend. During my time visiting I notice that staff wasn't attentive as they claimed to be. Basic end of life care is such a sensitive time and if you are a patient there with no family, it's a very lonely place. I needed to track down staff several times asking for the basics. Water, coffee, soup, straw, mouth swabs, how about shaving my friend, change of a diaper. I had the time to sit with my friend, the staff did not. Two days after I returned home I received a call at 11:09am from Christa H. at the Sawtelle Hospice House informing me that my friend had passed away. When I ask Christina what was the time of my friends passing she replied, "about 20 minutes ago and I was with him". As comforting as it may sound, it was a blatant lie. When I received the official death certificate from the town of Reading, the MD who came into Sawtelle that morning documented and pronounced my friends passing at 6:00am that morning. My two stars go to the 2 social workers that were compassionate and professional. Linda B. RN and former hospice nurse.

Specifically Tyler (female) LPN being the only nurse on duty and in the building was horridly rude…read moreand refused my access to say goodbye to my aunt. I spoke with this nurse who not only broke HIPAA but when I specifically asked her whether it would be a good time to visit my aunt, she advised that I would be welcome to come visit at any time during the facility visiting hours. Upon arrival, I was accosted by this LPN and told that she had "already had to make her family leave" as my dying aunt was growing increasingly agitated because Tyler, LPN "can't be expected to keep up with all these med passes while family is in the way so now I'm playing catch up." My lovely and adored aunt passed away early the following morning and I was never allowed to relay my father's message to her before she was gone exclusively due to this LPN's "authority" in which she would not "permit" me "access to (HER) patient". This human who made ethical promise to "do no harm" did at least express that she found it "very unfortunate" that I had made the 2 hour trip (after speaking with her on the phone TWICE mind you) "for nothing". I have not yet filed a formal complaint with the agency that employs Tyler as we are still in mourning but, being a nurse myself with 10+ years of hospice experience specifically, I do intend to make the MA Board of Nursing aware of this individual's deplorable behavior in addition to holding the agency accountable for allowing a nurse holding a license that restricts her scope of lawful practice from providing imperative and ethical intervention implicitly resulting in inhumane practice supported by the agency during times when holistic and evidence based patient and their family's care and comfort are paramount in their most vulnerable and precious last days of life.

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.

They make excuses not to come out and see you, only person in the office is competent. All outgoing…read morenurses are horrible and are hard to reach and are too busy to take on any new cases

I requested PALLIATIVE care for my husband as I was crumbling as a caregiver. Care Dimensions came…read morein and treated him as END-OF-LIFE, stopped all his meds, told me I could not take him for back surgery to ease his pain and that I should pay someone they provided to watch him overnight at $$ per hour. They gave me morphene to administer for his pain. Luckily I ended the connection within a week or he would have been dead. My husband subsequently had successful spinal surgery and lived another nine years pain-free! I would never recommend this company.

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.

This company dropped me without explanation and without a plan suddenly. I wouldn't want that to…read morehappen to anyone else's loved one. The nurses seem to have trouble understanding what "fragrance free" is and it took 4mo for them to send out a nurse to assist with my Rx and cathetering (extremely dangerous). My PT was okay but didn't respond when I got a call they were dropping me so I didn't know if she was continuing services or if it was just the nurse. These people make up rules as they go. I wouldn't trust them with a loved one.

We chose All Care after my 93-year-old mother, who has Alzheimer's, broke her hip. I should have…read moretrusted my instincts and walked away after the first few phone calls. Unfortunately, the company I originally preferred wasn't available right away, so I proceeded with All Care. From the director of the VNA side on down, the staff was consistently rude and dismissive. They made me feel as though I wasn't making the right decisions for my mother's care, even though I was advocating for what she truly needed. That should have been my red flag--especially considering that hiring them was part of the decision they were judging. In terms of care, the physical therapist spent less than two hours with my mother over a two-week period. There was no clear communication, no care plan shared with the facility where my mother lives, and no follow-up. They essentially gave up on her, implying she was bedbound, and then discharged her without notifying the staff--leaving them completely unprepared and without direction. Thankfully, I've since hired the original company I wanted. After just one hour with my mother, she was up and sitting in a chair. That speaks volumes about what's possible with the right care and compassion. If you have a loved one with Alzheimer's who needs post-surgical physical therapy, I strongly advise you to look elsewhere. This was a deeply disappointing and frustrating experience that could have had serious consequences.

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.

Communications! Especially with family. The individual nursing/patient care seemed good, the…read morereverend or pastor Tony, outstanding, the social worker not helpful at all and all of it poorly communicated with the family of the patient creating a lot more stress on the family on top of stress of caring for an aging parent.

Having a loved one in Hospice care is difficult enough without having to worry about them not…read moregetting the care they need. From the day my father-in-law entered into hospice with them, they have truly been part of a team making certain that he is receiving the very best care possible. They have developed a plan and have had weekly check ins not only for my father-in-law, but also to make sure my family has access to everything we need to cope with my father-in-laws decline. Sadly this is not the first of my relatives to end up in hospice care, I just wish I knew about Compassionate care back then. Words can not express how grateful I am the staff for helping us through this difficult time.

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.

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.