Houston Hospice

Excellent team! We had them do in home visits for my mom starting 1 20 2014. We had in home care for my mom already ²⁴⁄₇. HH did a superb job on my mom’s meds, and medical needs, till when she passed on 4 27 2014. My mom passed with dignity, with family, HH and her caregivers in her own home, as she wanted. Their social worker /​grieving counselor did an awesome job as well. I highly recommend them. One of mom’s long term caregivers told us about HH as she had used them for her mom. I wished we had known about them back in 2005 when my dad passed. The hospice group we had then (had just started, referred by his cardiologist) was horrible! It took them forever to come out to the house the day he died. When they did get there they realized they should have listened to me and gotten there sooner. All in all though he passed with dignity as well with us by his side and the other two hospice people. Houston Hospice would have been on their toes and out there much sooner had we known about them back then.

My grandmother was admitted yesterday and we’re really impressed. Staff was helpful and caring.

Houston Hospice extended my mother’s life with their wonderful care. She was on the Blue Team and there wasn’t one person with whom we dealt that wasn’t kind, compassionate, and knowledgeable. Our requests and phone calls were answered in a timely fashion. It was a hard choice for our family to move to home hospice care for my mother, but one we don’t regret. We will never forget the kindness extended to not only my mother but to our family.

We had a horrible home hospice experience with Houston Hospice. It was so awful that I discharged my dad from home hospice after 12 hours and took him back to the hospital and had him admitted to the palliative care unit there. Where do I begin?
— Reps repeatedly promised things to get our business — like IV antibiotics (if needed), morphine pain pump if patient/​family were willing to pay out of pocket (which we were) — but as soon as we got home and spoke with their physician, we were told that was not an option under any circumstance
— We got home at 4 pm, and my dad’s medicines did not arrive at our home until 6 hours later (10 pm). My dad need morphine every 2 hours round the clock, and I just happened to have backup doses on hand. When our medicine finally did arrive, turns out they’d misspelled our last name
— They’d made inappropriate medication substitutions that were contraindicated for the patient (e.g. albuterol for an extremely tachycardic patient) without consulting us
— A lot of the fairly standard equipment we’d requested (e.g. bedside commode) were not supplied and we had to make repeated phone calls to ensure delivery
— Crisis care LVN was awful — she spilled morphine on my father while trying to administer via feeding tube and shrugged when I asked how much he had gotten. I had to ask her to leave the room because she started arguing in a very loud voice in front of my father, who found it distressing
— Admissions nurse (Terri) was beyond awful. When I complained about the crisis care LVN dropping morphine on my dad and about the equipment we’d requested not being there, (both very solvable issues) she launched into a diatribe about what she thought about me and our family dynamics, and that she just wanted to go home, and that in her opinion we didn’t want Houston Hospice and threatened to withdraw hospice care from our home (which we had never stated). I had to call their main office and speak with Thomas Moore there to resolve the issues about the crisis care LVN and the equipment. Terri left our home without waiting for the replacement crisis care LVN to arrive
— Replacement crisis care LVN was not experienced. While my dad was having horrible symptoms at night, she was using her phone to look up what purpose the medicine was going to serve. She panicked, and deferred completely to the private duty nurse we had in our home. Was also not effective/​concise at communicating with the on-​call RN via phone — I had to take over the phone call
Worst hospice EVER. Sloppy, unprofessional, disorganized, and uncaring. Such a traumatic experience at such a difficult time. I would give them negative stars if I could.

I just wanted to thank you all for the amazing care and hospitality you gave our family. It was so peaceful and sort of like home. Glad to have my dad passing here where we as a family could all pile up in the room and have a final slumber party immediately before his passing. Your kindness and awesome staff will never be forgotten. This place is amazing and is non profit and treats people much better than the for profit hospital and beats any nursing home or other facility. Top notch staff here!

These are extraordinary people – the Red Team from Houston Hospice offered loving care to my father who just passed hours ago from cancer. Every single person we encountered (on the phone or in our home) projected an air of calm professionalism and gentle handling of our situation. We were never without help, or a line to help, and their advocacy for my father’s comfort was genuine and rare. The third party weekend critical care team of Ellen and Bridget could not have been more wonderful, with Ellen in particular choosing to extend to a double 24hr shift so my family would have consistency of care. Chaplin Dan Miller was also quite a comfort to my family–
Should you have need of hospice service in the Houston area, I cannot recommend more strongly utilizing the experience and expertise of these remarkable individuals.

As I sit at my moms bed side waiting for The Lord to take here home I looked up houston hospice. I read other reviews and look at their ratings. Everyone has different expectations and freedom to have their own views. Let me say this is the hospice I what for myself. The place and staff are the best. The chapel is so peaceful the garden is beautiful I just can not say enough good things about the staff and facility. Thanks so much for making my moms journey peaceful

I hate having to write a negative review but I do not want anyone else to go through what we went through. Methodist referred us to HH. There brochure and web site are very impressive. There representatives are very professional. That is were it all stops. They kept telling me how big my problems were and offered no solutions. My mother became very ill on a Saturday-​called 3 times and the call was never returned.
The last straw was when HH called and said my mother had been taken to the emergency room. Got in the car and raced to hospital. Wrong patient. It was not my mother!
A friend recommended Hospice Plus. This place does not have all the bells and whistles of HH pretty website but I will tell you they are in a league of their own when it comes to Hospice care. They are unbelievable. They met with me on a Sunday morning because they could hear the desperation in my voice. Patty, Julie, and Ginny are experts at what to do. AMAZING TEAM.

Houston Hospice was great at caring for my granny until she passed. I was truly hurt and upset that I was not notified in a timely manner of my grandmother’s death. My grandmother died at 10:07 pm but I was not notified until 11:11pm. but the funeral home was notified at 10:25pm. When I asked the nurse why was I not notified at 10:08pm she stated that she thought that the other nurse had called me. This is unacceptable and I emailed the administrative staff at 11:15pm regarding this major error and I have not received a response yet 3 days after.
Christi (Houston, Texas)

What can I say about this place? I’m sitting here with my Mom and Houston Hospice has again stood us up on a medical delivery. The experience with this company has been sub-​par at best.
The bed and medical equipment they provide are contracted through a third party and therefore are low-​cost options and not the quality we expected or that was represented. The bed’s rails impinge movement when lowered and will crunch any person’s toes who is standing to close when the bed is completely lowered. The bed also does not prevent against bed sores which is common at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. So now my mother has a bed sore which will require a wound care nurse who we have not seen today either. The staff of the «blue team» have made promises about sending someone out to refill her pain medications twice and promised that they would be on the first run this morning. Considering they subcontract the pharmacy services and delivery this is a promise that they could never have knowingly or ethically made. So, my father and I are sitting here waiting on Morphine because she can no longer swallow and the nurse just called us back after two hours saying it would be another hour and a half before we can get anything for Mom.
Also, yesterday when the nurse came by she hemmed and hawed over whether or not she should prescribe 10 or 12 or 15 pain pills. Jeez lady! Who cares? Give us 30 if we want, you weren’t planning on coming back for a week and she’s up to 2 a day. Why at this point would you even need to have this conversation with us? Train your «staff» on bedside manner.
Understandably emotions are running high at this point but this is the company’s business, to ensure that pain is managed and logistics are organized. At this point they have met the bare minimum for both. If you can find someone better I do not suggest using Houston Hospice services.
Edit: After writing this review I have not changed my mind about anything I said, but the caveat is the nurse who was made available to the family. Veronica, was the most professional and courteous nurse I’ve ever met. She went over and above and was compassionate at a difficult time.
After speaking with her about the requests we made in Mom’s final days she said she did not receive certain dispatches from the central headquarters which is located out of state.

I felt compelled to review Houston Hospice. Everyone reviews restaurants, bar scenes and clubs but no one thinks of places that deal with real issues. My grandma spent her last few days here and I have to say, it really was a great place with a wonderful, sympathetic staff. After spending 2 nights with her at St. Joseph’s Hospital, we received her test results back and she had pancreatic cancer which was beyond any sort of treatment since it was in severe, later stages and the doctors said that my grandma would not be strong enough to survive any operation since she was 89. And it had spread to her liver and it had caused her kidneys to start deteriorating.
We had her transferred to Houston Hospice on February 11, 2013 and she passed peacefully on February 13, 2013. This facility was really great. The MAJORITY of the staff was very wonderful and helpful in any needs that you may have needed, cots extra pillows etc. And I say majority because we had a brief encounter with a nurse that was helping when they first moved my grandma to her bed. There were 2 nurses helping the EMT guys and one nurse scoffed because my sister was by my grandma’s side making sure she was comfortable and apparently she was in her way and the duration of the moving, that one nurse just had a real negative attitude which we DID NOT appreciate. Don’t worry, we had a talk with supervisor about her. I mean, if you are going to work in sensitive environment like that and you want to bring your problems to work with you DONT WORK HERE! The people here are already going a tough enough time and your funky negative attitude is DEFINITELY not needed! For this encounter, I deducted a star…
They would allow as many people as we wanted in the room and they would let us spend the night with her since we did not want her to be alone whatsoever. We only had to remind the women behind the desk that our trash can was getting a bit full once and we needed a bit more toilet paper because we had like 4 people constantly in my grandmother’s room, but they were pretty much on top of the room maintenance. They have a shower and laundry facilities which we really appreciated. The staff helped tremendously and they really helped my grandma with her meds to make sure she was comfortable because that was our main concern. We just wanted her to feel secure with her family by her side. The staff really does not mind that you have all your family in the room or if you bring an overnight bag to stay for a few days (like I did) the parking is free, the parking lot could be a bit more well lit at night but it seemed pretty secure. The place really is beautiful and you feel comforted because you see the other families that are in the same exact situation as you; at a time when you feel alone. We have been meaning to make monetary donations as well as donate laundry detergent and toiletries to donate to this facility (since they have all of their resources SOLELY from donations) because I really was amazed at how wonderful the staff was and how they really did try to make this sad time a bit easier.
As I mentioned, my grandma passed away at 1:03p.m on February 13,2013 with her family by her side. My mom, dad niece and nephew were in the room with her when she took her last breaths. I felt so guilty because I was not in the room when she passed but I know she knows that we all love her and will miss her always.

There’s no way around this weeper of a review. My dad died on Friday the 13^th. Sucks, right? Except for his cool choice of dates, mad props Dad! Well, there are a lot of ways people can «go» and I think people usually hope for dignity, peace, and the like. I am so forever grateful that my dad was at Houston Hospice when he passed away.
People have a hard time with the idea of going somewhere to die. «I want to stay in my home» some say. «I don’t want to be in a hospital.» «I want to die with Fluffy the Dog next to me.» Those are all valid concerns. Other concerns that no one talks about is «This could be painful, I may need lots of drugs that might not be predicted» or «My partner is even worse at tracking my meds than I am and I’m the one hallucinating» or «My throat may fill with fluid and my wife can’t suck that out when I can’t swallow» or even «I’m dying and need to be washed, cleaned, and so on and will also be still likely pooping and peeing.» Death is not pretty or easy, but Houston Hospice takes care of all of the above. All. Of. The. Above. Meanwhile, loved ones (yes, including pets) are there to do what they want to do — support, love, share memories, sleep in the room, whatever they want. Best of both worlds (and you don’t have to look at your living room as «the place Grandma died» like I did for years when my grandmother insisted on passing in her house. The house we lived in. When I was four. Get what I’m saying there?)
My dad was okay with going somewhere because he didn’t want to die in the house since we’d have to disclose that if we sell (Ha! Sidenote, people — write a will and pass out copies!) But after years of treatment for cancer (see review of MD Anderson) that just wasn’t going away, he opted for hospice in-​home care and stopped other treatments. And that was fine for like a month. But then came the anxiety. The hallucinations. So on. Death was overwhelming for him and those taking care of him and so he was brought to Houston Hospice.
The staff here is amazing. Seriously, the best human beings. Ellen, you especially. You have all access. Stay overnight, pack the room with people, play music, bring your dog. The people next to us handled their stay with such beauty and grace that I wanted to join their family. The little old lady played classical music all the time and their dog was there the whole time. They had not left in a week-​and-​a-​half. Do it your way. The grounds are beautiful, so if you have to take a moment to yourself in the chapel or return calls or let someone else have a moment, there is beautiful outdoor space. Parking is free (uh, yay). The rooms are beautiful, wood floors (or something close to it) and everything is clean. People will come by to see if they can help you. Social workers, priests, a chick with a guitar and a lovely singing voice (See, I thought that would be cheesy til I was bawling. Don’t knock it).
The meds are important because death is unpredictable sometimes in how it happens. Here, you see distress and they’ve got something for it immediately. Not all hospices are as attentive or helpful. If you’ve ever heard the «death rattle» (see the nice blue book about dying everyone gives you, Gone From Sight, to see the cool things to come), it is something you don’t forget. My aunt had it and it haunts me. My dad was given meds and patches to dry his passages to avoid that. It’s the little things, really.
My dad entered on Tuesday night and his official time of death was 3:55 Friday morning. I was the only one in the room when he took his last breaths, sleeping on a couch in the room. Ellen came in and checked on my dad and called for me. She told me he had stopped breathing but that his heart was still going. I held his hand and then she brought in another nurse to confirm when his heart had stopped. I have no idea if this is a charade to make me feel that I was there in the moment and that he had not already passed, but either way it was lovely and sweet. It was all peaceful and serene and I am so grateful for that. There was enough drama to deal with once I made calls and the loons came out of the woodwork, but in that moment in the early morning, I was so grateful and happy that it ended like this. It was going to end, I couldn’t change that, but I would recommend to anyone to choose Houston Hospice for a loved one. Also, send them a donation too. They take them on their website :)