Great care from staff polished and professional. They were all so supportive and compassionate towards my grandmother who was on for more than a year. read more

This is a fallow up of the previous review I did for Heartland Hospice. I had called them to pick up their equipment (an oxygen concentrator and a walker) on Monday because I was never admitted as a patient since I ended up in the hospital. They had delivered this equipment right after I had spoken to someone about becoming a patient. I can't believe they even sent me this equipment since I wasn't formally a patient! It is now Friday and the driver who picked up the equipment on Monday forgot the walker and it is still on my porch! Also when I called on Monday the woman I spoke to was very upset with me saying I kept refusing service, three times. I told her to read my Yelp review because it explained that I only refused once when a man wanted to come out to see me on Saturday. I was never asked if I preferred males or females. So he told me a female nurse would call me Sunday and she never did. Then on Monday when a female nurse did come out to do the intake, I told her I had to go to the hospital because I thought I had broken a bone in my foot. The pain was excruciating and I could hardly walk. The nurse told me if I go to the hospital then I can't be a patient of Hospice. Since I needed an x-ray of my foot, I went to the hospital. This is why I was never a patient and it explains why I refused their services only once. If you call that refusing! The bottom line is I cannot recommend this company! read more

We used Heartland Hospice in 2021 when my Mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Neither my mother nor I had previous experience with hospice care, but we were assigned to Heartland Hospice through her health insurance provider, Kaiser Permanente. Nearly 2 years after my Mom's traumatic passing, I am beginning to realize that Heartland Hospice treated us terribly. Heartland Hospice was negligent in my Mother's care. 1) Heartland Hospice did nothing to support our family (which was just me and my Mom): * On August 4th, 2021, in what became the last 2 weeks of my Mom's life, she out of nowhere became incoherent, delirious, and was inconsolable in her bed. She was agitated, upset, she couldn't sleep. She was speaking in gibberish, her eyes rolling around in her head. Something was VERY wrong. At one point she indicated that she needed to go to the bathroom, so I helped her up from bed, and as soon as we got into the hallway, she immediately began projectile vomiting black fluids everywhere. It was around 2 am. I immediately called the Heartland Hospice after-hours hotline and asked the nurse who was on call what to do. I asked the nurse to send a nurse to our home because I was home alone and didn't know what was going on or what I should do. The nurse who I spoke with gave me 2 choices: she told me I could either take my mom to the emergency room or that I could give her some anti nausea medication. That's it. She didn't offer to send a nurse over. She did not provide ANY helpful support and provided no guidance. She was not even empathetic or sympathetic. She told me she would reach out to our dedicated nurse, who doesn't work during the nights, and that our nurse would check in with us when she was working again. That was literally it. She even thought it was appropriate to say, "Have a good night," prior to ending the phone call. I was left cleaning up black vomit with my mom who was suffering tremendously, cognitively and physically. 2) Heartland Hospice did the absolute BARE MINIMUM when it came to medically supporting my Mom: * The only thing Heartland Hospice did was have a nurse come to our sometimes to check my Mom's vitals and fill morphine prescriptions. That's literally it. Our nurse did not administer the morphine or any other medication, she did not teach me how to administer the medication to my Mom when my Mom was no longer capable of taking care of herself. 3) Heartland Hospice was overall not empathetic or caring: * My Mom's assigned nurse would say she would come over at a certain time, and would ALWAYS be late. As in, an hour+ late. * The Heartland doctor who had to declare my Mom dead before I could call the funeral home to pick up her body was HOURS LATE. She blamed it on traffic, which is potentially understandable, but she was still almost 2 hours late. That whole time, my Mom was just lying on her hospital bed, dead. Do better, Heartland. * During the last 1.5 weeks of my Mom's life, she was mostly unconscious but in severe pain. I had to hire 3 outside/private nurses to help take care of her and to keep her on a medicine schedule because that kinda of care is not included in Heartlands idea of hospice care. Every several hours they would administer her morphine and an anti anxiety medication. Because of this, I guess I needed refills on morphine faster than usual (??) because when I called my Mom's hospice nurse to tell her we needed more morphine, she didn't believe me. She was actually in shock, and made it seem like either me and/or the nurses I hired were doing something wrong and giving her too much. She was so much in shock and disbelief that she was hesitant to authorize refills. As if we were abusing the medication. 4) Our Heartland nurse didn't take the time to correct any shortcomings in care from the private/unaffiliated LPN's/LVN's I had to hire: * After the doctor declared death, she helped one of the private nurses redress my Mom. When they lifted her back off of her bed, I was horrified to see my Mom's back covered in the beginnings of bed sores. Our Heartland nurse should have communicated with my private nurses and made sure they fully knew how to prevent bed sores from occurring. Can you imagine the pain? To be COVERED in them on her back? This responsibility for ensuring proper care 100% FALLS ON HEARTLAND!!!!!!! 5) As a few other reviews mention, communication with your assigned care team is ridiculous and archaic: * Our dedicated Heartland nurse and social worker gave my Mom and I their work cell phone numbers to call and text when we needed anything. We had no clue that a lack of response meant they were not working that day, nor was there any backup option to contact on their off days apart from the awful nurse hotline I mentioned in my 1st paragraph. Employees use outdated Android phones so patients have no clue whether their text messages are even being received or not. I have filed a complaint with the CA Department of Public Health. read more

This is the worst hospice company in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. The nurses are the worst!! Especially Juliette!! She was arguing about having to complete a death visit over the phone. I told her she is required to come to the house to complete the death visit. Because of her uncaring attitude and irresponsibility the Family was unaware what the visit entailed. The Family was mourning their loved one and to have this awful nurse come in who could basically careless about the families needs. And they had many unanswered questions. It took them three long hours to get someone out to transport the body to the funeral home. Worthless and awful! If I could give them 0 stars that's what they deserve....... read more

My mom's physician recommended Heartland Hospice. The Heartland team was wonderful. Our aide, Rosie, patiently and compassionately kept us informed and what we could do to provide comfort for our Mom. The nurse assigned to our case was equally caring and prompt on arriving when she said she would. The Heartland did everything possible to care for our mom, while also attending to our needs for information and guidance. I highly recommend Heartland Hospice. read more

My mom and dad were both on Heartland Hospice which helped SOOO much with their comfort near the ends of their lives. Heartland Hospice staff are knowledgeable, caring and understanding. My load as the daughter/caregiver of both my parents was greatly lightened and I felt supported as a person through rough times. read more

DO NOT USE HEARTLAND HOSPICE. I'm not one for negative reviews however, given the context of hospice services, I feel it is my moral duty to say something. My father passed away only 5 days after we contracted with Heartland. I will start by saying that Suhad (don't know last name) is a shining light in the dark abyss that is Heartland Hospice. Here is a quick list of our experiences with Heartland: * Over three hours after Heartland Hospice came to confirm my father's passing, one of their employees came by to give him a bath having no idea that he had passed. * The following day four large boxes of supplies were delivered to the house - supplies that were meant for a living patient. * I called Heartland to tell them about the delivery and to ask what should be done about the hospital bed that was no longer needed and had yet to be addressed. Susan at Heartland first asked me to throw away what was probably $500 of supplies. When I resisted, she assured me that both the boxes and the bed would be picked up prior to our departure in early afternoon of the following day to return to our homes. * I heard nothing from Heartland the following morning. When I called around 11am to ask about pickup of the hospital bed, I was put on hold for 20 minutes while the receptionist spoke to the third-party moving company. It was fairly evident that no one had reached out to them since my father had passed. * I was told they could only pick up the bed after our departure. My brother and I spent 45 minutes taking apart the bed that my father had died in 48 hours earlier (it did not fit through the door otherwise) and put it in my dad's carport for all of his neighbors to see. * Five days later, I received a text message from my dad's neighbor informing me that the boxes of supplies were still sitting outside my dad's house. To call this service inept is an insult to that word. Dealing with Heartland Hospice was a truly dreadful experience that I would not wish upon my worst enemy. read more

If you have a loved one who is in need of hospice care please go elsewhere. There is a huge lack of communication between nurses, receptionists, managers, and pharmacists. You will be on the phone multiple times a day trying to get your family member the care, supplies, and medications they need. The lack of medical knowledge of the nurses (not knowing how to operate an oxygen machine, giving wrong bed sore cream, and much more) and having them push medications that do not work and making it extremely hard to get the medications you do need. We have had 3 different nurses and each one brought on new issues and all gave us different advice making it very confusing on trying to figure out what care my father actually needed. I'm very disappointed in the lack of care these employees have for their patients and I'm very happy my father has myself and other family members to advocate for him because these people would absolutely have made him more miserable than the painful cancer that he's currently dying from. I hope this review saves you from going down the same painful and heartbreaking road we have been going down. read more

I cannot say enough good things about this agency of some of the most compassionate individuals. We were on another hospice one the hospital told us to go with and it was truly the worse experience ever. Pain was not managed until we called Heartland Hospice. My loved one was able to pass in peace because of their team of highly experienced and professional staff. Words cannot express my gratitude. read more

After contacting two other hospice providers who were unable to respond to an urgent need for us, Heartland came through with flying colors to provide my 91 year old Dad a smooth transition from this earthly plane. I cannot say enough wonderful things about our nurse from Heartland, Walter, who gave us all a feeling of competence and calmness as he assessed what was going on and what was needed to make Dad comfortable and free of pain. Although our contact with them was short (Dad passed on the next morning) the family felt that we could not have put him in better hands than with Walter and the Heartland team. THANK YOU ALL for your wonderful care and compassion and for knowing how to deal with the family members during a time of sadness and extreme stress. I would definitely call them FIRST should any need arise in the future. read more

The most compassionate group of people. They have a great team in place and will go above and beyond go make not make your loved one feel comfortable, but they also take care of family. read more

the best my nieghbor says. while her mother's life was ending the nurse and social worker were just a phone call away. when family concern arose, on a holiday, the nurse was right there. all family members had the opportunity to talk to the stafff at heartland 24/7, for whatever reason . and within a day or two, all equipment and meds were there for the home caregivers to use, when the mother returned from the hospital. advocating for families, in a time of need this place is the best, for at home care, she says. read more

We choose Heartland based on reviews here, however our experience was completely different. At my mother's doctor's recommendation we signed up for Hospice for my 96 year old mother. She was residing in an assisted living facility in Salinas. All of the sales talk and assurances felt like we made the right decision. Their nurse, chaplan and social worker contacted us right away. Ten days after signing my mother up, on Sunday Christmas Eve morning my mother had problems. Heartland was called beginning at 8 am, and called, and called, and called. Six hours later at 2 pm a nurse finally arrived. Too late. We were asked a week or so earlier if we would like a priest to come by and said yes. When asked on that Sunday if a priest was contacted we were told by the nurse they didn't know. We were told Heartland would make all of the arrangements with the funeral home, didn't happen. I know it was a Sunday and Christmas Eve but during the sales pitch we were told even after hours it would be no more that and hour or so before a nurse came. Twelve days after my mothers passing a Heartland grievance counselor called asking if they could help in any way. You would think they would have called within a day or so. Beware what you are told. read more