I do NOT recommend Bridge hospice. They seem to be short staffed, don't communicate with each other, don't bring the needed items that were previously discussed, always late, and it makes an already stressful and difficult time a million times worse. My mother was already entering the final stages, by that I mean only 1-2 days left. She required high flow oxygen and it was delivered but I had to figure out how to hook it up because my mom arrived from the hospital to home and they were supposed to be here but weren't. It was up to me to figure everything out alone because they weren't here on time. THEY were the ones who arranged the transport and time!! To make matters worse they didn't have the right equipment that they told me they were bringing (bed rails) and I had to literally hold my mom in bed so she wouldn't fall because she was trying to get off the bed. Patients get agitated and do that, it's common. That's why I verified TWICE I needed rails. The admitting nurse comes and I'm literally begging him to find out where's the meds? Mom is in severe pain, clutching her chest and coughing with tears streaming down so WHERE are the meds? He tells me it's on the way and seems to only give a crap about the effing paperwork and nothing else. After an hour and a half the meds are STILL not there, and he leaves. Then a courier service shows up another hour later with the meds. They were supposed to bring everything in liquid form because she can't swallow. They give me tablets of everything and to make it worse, they give me 3 or 4 of each thing that says 1 every 3 hours, and they don't have plans for another nurse coming until half a day after the meds will be gone. They told me call 24 hours a day for help. So I call in the middle of the night because she's agitated and keeps removing her oxygen and trying to get off the bed. Still no liquid meds. The answering service they have tells me to dissolve the tablets in water and give it in a syringe. So I do because I have no other choice. It doesn't work like it should and I spend the next 9 hours having to restrain my mom so she can't take rhe oxygen off and suffocate. I try to wait for the appointment with the nurse to come but it's only getting worse, and she's in substantial pain, more pain than what medication they gave me will help. Exhausted and terrified I call them bawling my eyes begging for help because 3 more hours isn't going to work. My mom is suffering so bad, she's asking me why I won't help her, she doesn't understand everything that's going on because she doesn't have enough oxygen in her brain. They tell me they'll call a nurse to come right away. You guessed it, they did NOT. They called to tell me a nurse will be there in 15 minutes, but basically I got a nurse there 15 minutes before the scheduled appointment. I'm already stressed, and this nurse judges me by shaming ne for having dog hair on the towels. We have dogs, I've been in the hospital with my mom, I had no time to deep clean anything. She then shames me for my mother's diaper being soiled, when they didn't send help or ever show me how to change it by myself, so I did it the best I could. She sent me into a panic attack by making a suggestion that adult protective services could be called to remove my mother from her home OMG I felt terrified, panicked and was a mess. She tells me she doesn't like dogs, so I guess that bit of dog hair bothered her so much she'd say something cruel to me like that. She left and another nurse came, who was incredibly helpful and kind, she assured me that other nurse tends to come off wrong to people sometimes and I shouldn't worry, nobody would take my mom from me, I'm doing the best I can and she can see that. She taught me how to change the diaper alone, and I was fine after that. She must have told the rude nurse what I said because she called me to apologize. I accepted her apology verbally, but I do not forgive her. It is unfathomable behavior to create stress, fear and anxiety to someone who is already struggling with all of those things watching their precious family member die. When my fat0her died we had a different hospice company, and they were an absolute godsend. They made a difficult time less traumatic and less stressful. I commend then fir the deep level of compassion, respect and grace they gave me. Bridge hospice did the opposite. I will never forget or forgive them for how they treated me and the extra stress and traumatic experience they caused. Aldo, they increased her meds, but if mom wouldn't have passed away when she did, she would have been out of medication for 2 hours before that delivery got here. My mother and I deserved better, my mom deserved her dignity. I feel like I'll never heal from the trauma they caused. Death and grief is difficult enough, a hospice is supposed to help us through with care and compassion. This was not the experience they provided. read more
