Companion Hospice

**Yelp deleted my original «Updated review» because it contained «secondhand» information. I guess the 5 months I spent visiting her in hospice care didn’t count for anything? I’m sure they will delete this one as well, but THANKS to Unilocal for deleting my post today, emailing me, and reminding me of my mother-in-law’s passing. It happened almost a year ago to this day. Now I’m sitting here crying because it made me think of the awful night that the mortuary picked her up from hospice care. This will be my last contribution to the Unilocal community because it would rather support an awful and immoral business than its Unilocalers. Unilocalers are the people who make Unilocal what it is – a forum to let others know about the good and bad businesses out there. You’ve really lost your way. Hope you find your way back…
Who works in hospice care and does NOT know the signs of someone who is literally hours or minutes from death??? COMPANION!
So, one of the huge signs of someone who is hours near death is that their breathing pattern changes dramatically — my mother in law was breathing loudly and rapidly, almost choking for air. Another is that they are unresponsive (almost coma-​like), which she was.
Hospice told us that my mother-​in-​law had days left to live. She passed away minutes after they said that.
My husband was stuck on an airplane at that time, so it didn’t really make a difference… but my sister-​in-​law was about 30 minutes away and could have made it in time to see her mother before she passed on.
Don’t trust Companion with ANYTHING. They don’t know what they’re doing, and they don’t train their staff to be anything more than a warm body, occupying space in a room.

DO NOT USE COMPANION HOSPICE FOR YOUR LOVED ONES. THEY TOTALLY MISREPRESENT THEIR CAPABILITIES & EQUIPMENT.
We chose Companion Hospice for my 67 year old father, Charles Price, while he was in the hospital in December 2014. We were assured the bed they would deliver to my dad’s home would be «exactly» like the one my dad was laying in in his hospital room. They said they would provide a wheelchair for him. My dad specifically said that he did not want a Ernest & Jennings chair as they are very heavy & difficult to maneuver (our family is accustomed to wheelchairs). He said he would need a chair like my sister’s, a light-​weight Quickie brand. «No problem.», the representative said. «We have a contract with Quickie».
Later that day the equipment was delivered to my dad’s house. A squeaky metal bed with a worn out net of springs and a mattress that already had a dip in it was what awaited my father’s homecoming. Clearly NOT what dad was in at the hospital! The wheelchair was EXACTLY what they promised would NOT be delivered, right down to the brand: an Ernest & Jennings wheelchair. We told the delivery man that the chair was incorrect. «I’m just the delivery guy. I bring what they tell me.» My dad tried the chair and found it to be a monster to try to navigate. The edges of the chair bruised his arms & legs terribly.
We contacted Companion about the wheelchair. They assured us they would bring a light-​weight replacement as they had promised in the first place. They brought a chair identical to they one they already provided. They said that that was the only chair they have and the rep. that said their company had a contract with Quickie «was mistaken. Sorry.» They told us if we wanted we could purchase a chair out-​of-​pocket for dad & that Medicare would reimburse us. So we did. Medicare has since refused. And Companion Hospice has also refused despite the misrepresentation they made to our family on multiple occasions.

I currently have two people on hospice with this company and they have been great. Whenever I have an issue they send some one out right away.

My family hasn’t had any problems with companion hospice. They are organized, and ready to help. Hector is wonderful and very caring. I love when they call to see how things are going. Some of the bad reviews sound like a lie. Companion would be sued if they did some of the things mentioned.

Same owner as Companion Home Health in Orange. Please read since it is run by the same group of people that claims to care about people. Lies, lies, lies.

My mother was under Companion Hospice care before she passed away from cancer. From the day she was admitted, to the day she took her last breath, the compassion my mom, family and I received from the nurses, doctors, social workers and the entire staff were all amazing. My family and I would of been lost without the love, and guidance we received from everyone at Companion during the hardest time of our lives. I just want to take this time to thank everyone at Companion Hospice for being so passionate about their jobs and caring so much about their patients…:)

They are a great company. They care about their patients and they do lots of fundraiser to give back to the patients.

I am extremely happy that I took the advice of my pastor to transfer our family member to Companion Hospice. I am so grateful to the entire company and staff for the nurturing way everyone took care of not only the patient but also the needs of our family at this very difficult time.

My mother recently passed away from cancer. She didn’t like going to hospitals and very independent. In early November I recieved a call from Methodist Hospital saying that my mother was there, that was on a Friday. On Monday a pallative care nurse told me my mother had weeks to months to live. A week ago yesterday my mother passed away.
I’m writing to give a warning to those out there.
First, I would suggest you check out the reviews on glass ceiling. The general tenor of the reviews there is that the people who actually do the work are nice and well intentioned, but that management really sucks. The second warning sign I had were the business cards of the employees I came into contact with, they only have 800 numbers. You can’t actually contact them directly, only through the office, and when they call, there’s no caller ID. I was told by Lisa (a representative of Companion Hospice whose territory includes Methodist Hospital of Arcadia), that it was to make sure that everyone stayed in the loop. Well, things didn’t work out that way, as you shall see.
The hospital was putting a lot of pressure on me to discharge my mother into the hands of Companion Hospice. I can understand. She was medical-​pending, so the hospital was footing the entire bill, and her cancer was not treatable.
I signed the papers on a Monday evening, it was too late to move her, so she would be transported to a skilled nursing care facility the next day at 1:45 pm. Lisa (of Companion Hospice) informed me that all the arrangements would be taken care of. She had contacted the pharmacy and made arrangements for my mother’s medication (morphine, two medications, a long-​acting one and a short-​acting one) to be delivered at the same time as her arrival.
At the skilled nursing care facility, I was attending to my mom, filling out paper work (of the facility), and talking with Sally, the case manager from Companion Hospice for my mom. While I was meeting with Sally, a nurse from the facility interrupted us to say that my mother was in pain, where was her medication? It didn’t arrive until 7:25 that evening. The facility didn’t have the exact medication for my mom, they did have liquid morphine, and after a period of about an hour her pain was more or less under control (but she still told me that she was in pain), I stayed with her until 8pm that evening.
Her medication was by pill, but she was deteriorating rapidly. It was going to reach a point where she was still alive but unable to swallow, so she would be in a lot of pain unless there were some other way to administer the morphine. Lisa, a few days before, had assured me that they could set her up with a machine that would pump morphine into her system (like a patch), so an IV would not be necessary.
Friday morning I went to see my mom around 9am, and she was much weaker, she didn’t have the strength to talk or move her body, she could follow me with her eyes and breath, that was about it. I left to do a bit of work and pick up my son and a close friend of my mother so that they could visit her.
At about 3pm I arrived back the facility and I met a nurse practitioner from Companion Hospice. She told me my mother had entered an «active dying» phase. Maybe she die today, maybe she would die in a week, but her body was shutting down. I asked her about the medication, saying that she was now too weak to swallow tablets. She said that there was another medication, administered under the tongue that could be used instead. She would make the arrangements.
Earlier that evening, I was stuck in traffic in West LA trying to get to the facility as fast as possible (I had to drive my mother’s friend back home). My wife called me from the facility to tell me that my mother was in pain because the medicine had not yet arrived. I got ahold of Companion Hospice the only way possible, through the 800 number. I spoke to a guy who said that the records for my mom were not yet in the system and Sally, the case manager had already left work for the day.
My mother passed away at 8:20 that evening. The medicine arrived at 8:25pm. I asked the guy in charge at the facility, Ryan, and he told me that this was not the first time this had happened for medicine deliveries for Companion Hospice.
So, here’s the recap: the people I interacted with were very compassionate and well-​intentioned. However, my mother died in pain. She experienced unnecessary pain because the medications did not arrive when they were supposed to arrive. The reviews on glassceiling and the inability to contact people and the fact that my mom’s records were not in the system when I called Friday night all point to a corporate culture that is rotten to the bone.
I made a mistake, I should have let her die in the hospital. I shouldn’t have signed the paper giving Companion Hospice authority over my mother.

I am concerned about the quality of healthcare this racket does. There is a mystery doctor that prescribed my poor mama narcotics and other pain medicatios with ever setting eyes on her. She never stated that she was in pain. It has been two weeks and I am keeping an eye on their poor service

Everyone: Elise, Abby, Kelly, Germaine, Sal, Ray, Marlene (anyone else I might have missed — I am sorry) were WONDERFUL angels. They couldn’t have done a better job.
I work for another hospice and I can honestly say: Companion Rocks.

I have never written a review before but I feel compelled to educate people about this company so they don’t have to go through what my family and I went through.
While my mother was in the hospital, I received a call from Beverly at Companion Hospice. She said the hospital had contacted her because they felt my Mom had only weeks/​months to live. I agreed to have her go home with hospice care. I was told that someone would be there to teach us (myself and my mother’s caregiver) how to take care of her at home since neither of us was trained to do so. Well, the bed and oxygen arrived, my mother arrived, but no one from hospice arrived. Not even a phone call to see if we needed anything, which, of course, we did. This was on a Friday evening. Up until this point, Beverly was totally into making the sale. She kept going to talk to my Mom when I asked her not to because she was upsetting her. My Mom was in denial about her situation and I didn’t want this stranger going in there talking about her impending death. The next day, Saturday, I called Beverly’s cell phone and, of course, it went to voicemail. I left a message about my concerns. Later that day a caseworker showed up to fill out paperwork. She was very apologetic and said someone was supposed to come by on Friday, but, since it was a weekend… blah blah blah and that a nurse would be there on Monday. Of course, Beverly, the consumate sales person, never called. The next day, Sunday, my mother passed away so we didn’t get to evaluate the service beyond that.