Community Hospice & Palliative Care of Clay County

My mother in law was unfortunately placed on hospice after a long hospital stay. Fortunately enough we were placed with Community Hospice. I cannot say enough great things about this company. Crystal, her nurse, was an absolute angel. Anytime we called or text she was always there to answer. She is so very passionate about her job and did her absolute best to make this hard time a positive one given the circumstances for not only my mother in law but for us in her last days. We cannot thank her enough for all she did for us. Lena, her CNA, was an absolute angel as well. My mother in law was so happy to see her come through the door. She was so relaxed with Lena and we cannot thank her enough for the way she treated my mother in law. We see them as part of our family now. We cannot thank them enough and the entire Community hospice team for treating our family like family during this difficult time for us. We will never be able to thank them enough.

My grandmother recently used Community Hospice for the last month of life. She had a great team who was supportive and worked along with Life Care Center of Wells Crossing to ensure she had the best care. Her nurse, Mindy was the best! I loved the entire team and I appreciate the time they spent with my grandmother and helping our family. Thank you for your compassion and care during this hard time.

I expected more compassion and empathy from the hospice nurse. I expected someone who I didn't have to call the patient line for twice to get a response. I expected a nurse that asked how we were doing. I expected a nurse that would give us some guidance on what to expect. I read the book on what to expect but it really doesn’t register when you’re going through this. The home health aide, Keisha, she was the one who bathed my Mom. She's the one who asked how we were doing and how my Dad was doing. The only thing the nurse seemed to be concerned about was whether or not we were giving her the liquid morphine and how much or looking at everything in the room and asking what’s this or that like she was looking for something wrong. I felt like I needed to defend myself. Everyone says that Hospice will get your Mom whatever she needs and faster than anyone else. Every time we asked for bandages for her wounds or gauze, or whatever, the answer was usually we can't get that but we can get this instead which was usually less effective , if it's about keeping her comfortable, then it should be whatever is needed to keep the wound clean and the infection down. When my Mom was actively dying, we didn’t even realize what was happening. We tried to save her, thinking she was choking on the fluid in her throat, that it was blocking her airway. She died in our arms. The nurse wasn't even here with us when she did pass and I'm glad because I don't think I would have felt any compassion from her anyway. She did at least have the courtesy to call and give her condolences and remind us about their bereavement services. I'm disappointed with our experience with this company to say the least. And the next person that tells me that Hospice is great and will get your Mom all the nice equipment and all the great supplies, I will tell them they are full of it because in the end what it all comes down to is money and how much of it they can save.

July 7th will be the 1-year anniversary of my 86-yr-old mother's death due to...complications arising from Alzheimer's, I suppose, it was never made clear to me -- and I am just now able to write a review on Clay County Community Hospice. They sent me a SURVEY after my mother passed asking how they'd done and I was stunned. I was brutally honest on it, hoping that it would reveal to whoever receives those, that this Hospice had failed my mother and I very badly, but I never received a single response back so I have no idea. I wish I'd kept it and I would have just posted it here. The short version is that although the intake nurse was wonderful, compassionate and reassuring to me as my mother worsened in the end, that's about all I can say about them that was good. The staff they sent to my mom (both caretaking and clergy unfortunately) seemed as if they'd never worked with an Alzheimer's patient -- asking questions she absolutely could not answer (such that she would make UP answers, feeling like she should respond). My mom slipped into a "hypo delirium" about 5 days before she passed for reasons unknow to me. I had no idea what it was and did not recognize it as an end-state condition at all; I believed it would pass and she would be conscious again. I stood by her bed and spoke for several minutes with the nurse 4 days before death, and she NEVER said "you need to prepare, she's going to go soon." She was merely friendly and chatty - nothing about mother's imminent death!! The Director of the home where mom lived is the one who shocked me (NOT anyone at Hospice, who rarely communicated) on a Wednesday when she told me that Hospice was planning to start a vigil Friday evening (constant attendance at the bedside) and said "you need to get your sister on a plane NOW." I frantically read up on end-of-life and what I needed to prepare for, and my sister scheduled a flight in from Denver first thing Friday morning, so that we could be together with mom for the vigil, assuming she might pass during the weekend most likely. Thurs. evening near 10pm, the Director called to say that mom had just stopped breathing. That was it. She died alone in her bed, with no one but the evening staff member checking on her every 15-20 min. We had no idea her death was that imminent and apparently Hospice nursing staff had no idea either, that hypo delirium is indeed an end-state condition. How could they not know that? How could NO staff members from Hospice ever let me know we should have been preparing as soon as she slipped into that state, that my sister should already have flown out? That the vigil should have started RIGHT THEN??? We were crushed. I'm still crushed. And furious at how badly Hospice was at communicating and warning us when there was such an obvious sign available to them.