For someone reason my first review did not post and so I am resubmitting because I want to share…read morewith all of you our experience with Sonata Hospice. In late October of 2025, our family was scrambling to find a hospice care provider for my mother in law. Finding a reliable hospice provider for a loved one is a daunting task often made under stressful circumstances. Our family, after extensive searching and disappointing recommendations from other sources, found Sonata Hospice through positive online reviews on Yelp. This review comes from a genuine family who utilized their services for a critical 10-day period. The level of care provided by the entire Sonata team to both our loved one and our family was amazing and far exceeded our expectations. We felt completely confident that our loved one was in excellent hands, and we as a family felt fully supported throughout this difficult process. Several team members deserve specific commendation for their outstanding professionalism and genuine compassion: Rachael (Nurse/Case Manager): Rachael was outstanding. Her work is a true blessing and a calling. She provided expert clinical care while simultaneously offering immense comfort to our family. The attentiveness she provided our loved one was consistent with the level of care one gives their own family. Her clear communication, explaining procedures, answering questions, and involving us in the care plan was a model of professional and empathetic care giving. Marsha (Home Health Aide): Marsha treated our loved one with dignity and affection, like she was caring for a member of her family. Her hands-on care was superb. Maria (Chaplain): Maria brought much-needed peace, love, and spiritual support during a challenging time, helping us navigate the emotional and spiritual aspects of the process and providing our loved one with that extra level of care. The Office and After-Hours staff were consistently responsive and efficient in meeting all our immediate needs. The support they extended through the difficult moment when our loved one passed, provided ease and compassion during our time of grief. And our hearts were warmed when at her funeral we saw Rachael and Maria present and still supporting us. Deciding on end-of-life care is perhaps one of the most significant decisions a family can make. Concerns about the quality of care, trustworthiness, and prioritization of patient well-being over financial considerations are paramount. Sonata Hospice put those fears to rest. They are a trustworthy, compassionate, and highly professional organization that we wholeheartedly recommend to any family navigating the hospice journey. I hope this review makes the post and can provide another family with reassurance.

Sooo, I don't know how your relationship with hospice started, but here is mine…read more Our loved one was admitted to the hospital with some very serious medical issues. The hospitalist (treating doctor), sent around a palliative care doctor (doctor who specializes in improving the lives for people with serious illness), who explained that our loved one would benefit from hospice services. The doctor went on to explain that it doesn't mean our loved one was going to immediately pass away, but just that hospice, amongst many things, gives more care to people who need it and it was the hospital's opinion that our loved one would benefit from this service. She went on to recommend a hospice service her mom had and left me with "Great!", we'll check in tomorrow and let us know who you selected. "Wait, whut?!" So I only get *24 hours* to select the service providing critical care to my loved one? So with that, I was off to find a hospice service, but not confident it would be *the best* hospice service, if only given 24 hours to find them. I was lucky enough to think of someone I trusted (the Executive Director of our loved one's care home), who immediately provided me with five hospice services. We ended up with the first service we contacted, Sonata Hospice, on the basis that 1) they were very local to our loved one's care home (2 miles) 2) most of the nursing staff was local to the office 3) most of the nurses were educated with the issues of our loved one (they had the specific speciality within their RN designation) 4) the very arbitrary fact that the owner was born and raised in Berkeley and lives in San Diego and our loved one was born and raised in San Diego and lived in Berkeley for most of their life. (That is to say, by that time, I had a good feeling about them). I will just briefly state what happened to the other four services - two were very aggressive and just turned me off, the other was outside of their service area, and one didn't answer the phone. Sonata turned out to be the right choice! Our loved one got such stellar care, that a significant number of other resident's families saw what good care our loved one got (full bathing in the shower every other day, not a sponge bath, consistent specialized care and respectful and compassionate communication) that they actually switched from their hospice service to Sonata! Sonata provided exceptional care to our loved one. From the beginning, when meeting with the very knowledgeable and very thorough Director of Patient Care who comes to you and takes a medical history and gives her patient the "once over". The Certified Nursing Assistants come to provide patient hygiene and are extra eyes for the nurses (looking for skin issues, etc) to the volunteers who sit with patients (because, let's face it, family is not the bomb all the time) to the social workers and religious personnel; they all provided seamless medical expertise, compassionate care and super prompt service to our loved one. Another thing that makes Sonata outstanding is the way they treat their patient's families. Having your loved one in hospice is so stressful! Worries abound - are all the patient's issues being addressed, HOW are all the issues being addressed? What if something comes up? Sonata treats all the people involved with the patient (family, caregivers) with comprehensible and simple medical expertise (they never speak above you), compassionate understanding and most of all, they are available and ready to go if something comes up or are there if other issues come up and more discussion or action is needed. If their patient passes away, if needed, they provide grief support for everyone, even after the patient passes. Hospice has one of the hardest jobs in the world. They help patients through what may be their patient's last time on Earth. Patients are not super bueno with their situation as is also their family. They are tasked with providing medical expertise, end of life care and compassionate attention to everyone concerned (patient and family) in very emotional and could be tumultuous times. We entrusted Sonata Hospice with escorting our loved one through the last phase of their life. What we got was exceptional medical expertise, the most compassionate and caring staff ever, comprehensive care, not only for our loved one, but for our family too and 24-hour open communication. Hospice care is an essential need in palliative care. For my family and for all the reasons stated above, we are forever grateful to Sonata for the service provided to our family in a difficult time. They are our only choice for hospice care.

The "George Mark Children's House" is a children's care facility in San Leandro,CA. I work in the…read moremedical essential services, and my job has sent me here about a dozen times. It's a modern medical care hospital, with a professional caring staff. If you're concerned about privacy and security, this place is not easy to find. It's located on Alameda County property in the vicinity of Fairmont Drive & Foothill Blvd. This is one of those places that "you need to know it's there." There's signs directing you to it's gate. Entry by code or intercom. You will find a modern building with nice landscaping. There's a patient dropoff area, and large parking lot. I would say the building resembles a large house, rather than a hospital. For the dedicated staff who provide care 24/7.....5-stars.

Unlike any other institution that cares for children with serious and terminal illnesses, perhaps…read morenone is more singularly dedicated to helping the entire family before, during and after their child's illness, and life, is over. As the first freestanding children's respite and end of life facility in the country, one might think the atmosphere here is less than uplifting. But nothing could be further from the truth. George Mark Children's House is all about life. All the life that can be packed into a brightly decorated child's room, a kitchen table, a garden, an afternoon in a music or art room, into a family apartment, and yes, even into a wake room and sanctuary. George Mark Children's House is unique in one other aspect, as well. Because grieving and loss have no time limits, neither do the House's services. They are provided free of charge, for as long as the families need them, however long that may be. In other words, for life. ~GMCH Legacy Committee

I can't say enough wonderful things about Angels Hospice. They took such incredible care of my…read moregrandmother during a very difficult time for our family. From the moment we connected with them, we felt supported, informed, and truly cared for. A special thank you to Megan, the manager,she is absolutely amazing. Her compassion, professionalism, and attention to detail made all the difference. She treated my grandmother with dignity, respect, and so much kindness. Megan was always available to answer our questions and made sure everything ran smoothly. We are forever grateful to the entire Angels Hospice team for the comfort they brought to my grandmother and to all of us. I would highly recommend them to anyone needing hospice care. ,you couldn't be in better hands.

We hired Angels Hospice back in January 2025. While my mother was still able to get up and use her…read morewalker to go to the bathroom, they were great. But the last few weeks when I really needed their help, I wasn't shown how to do many things, including turning her from side to side. I ended up finding my own method to do that, that did not include a towel. We first had Lourdes who told me twice that my mother would be dead within a week. She lived 8 weeks past that. Olivia, who apparently used to work for hospice was our caregiver. She was absolutely amazing. Angels Hospice Care.

My mom's health starting failing so we enrolled her in Asian Network hospice and she passed away 2…read moredays later peacefully in her sleep. The nurses and staff were amazing. They saw her right away. They brought in oxygen and supplies to make sure she was comfortable. Pastor Ioa Ka (Joseph) Wu was incredibly helpful. He was able to help provide a bilingual funeral service for our family and we will be forever grateful for his words of comfort. It is never easy when someone is near the end of their life, the support of Asian Network hospice made the transition so much easier. Thank you for your wonderful care of our mom and us.

I appreciate Asian Network for giving my mom an excellent home care service and hospice service…read more Health care staff and provider had taken care my mom in her most difficult struggles in her life. Staff are gentle,understanding giving the best care that she have. I could not find words to express but in my heart everyone of you give me the most comforting touch in the time of fear to lose my mom. I would recommend to all friends and families. Thank you Dr Kwan, Pam, Lisa,Qiki and Su Co and Mt Kwong.

Pathways Hospice of Alameda County was wonderful in caring for my cousin in the final weeks of his…read morelife. Their professionalism, kindness and compassion at a difficult time meant more than my words can express. Their calmness, openness and patience with all of my calls and questions kept me grounded and better able to manage expectations and communications with the rest of his family. Pathway's care ensured comfort and dignity when it mattered most, and for that, our entire family is deeply grateful.

Pathways is not a good company!! Not only do I not trust hospice period, regardless of program it's…read morefrom, but this review is merely going to be talking about my personal experience with them via their "grief support" counseling! They will kick you out mid-care if you also have mental health issues and recieve GENERAL therapy for mental health, which is also a form of discrimination! I was receiving virtual grief counseling weekly through them, and not only what I said above, but also their therapist I had, Katherine, was lying to the supervisor about me not ever talking about my grief to her, when in actuality, I have been, but she also has been asking me to explain details to her about my other stressors too, which lead to my instincts to be honest with her. However, that has lead her to shift to only listen to those moments rather than my grief moments, hence the belief of hers that "I was never talking about grief" in our sessions, so I had stopped telling her my other details entirely with "I'm not going to explain more details about that because then you're going to say it's not grief" before she asked from then on. Still despite that though, the last session was an uncalled for the last session, with using the adamant excuse that she was ending my care because "I had other problems distracting me from grief"(literally still sticking to the story that I was not talking about my grief). I then just spoke to her "supervisor", Tom May, who, rather than make Katherine take accountability, instead revealed the real reason; he had Katherine kick me out mid-care, and according to what he said, other people too, because "we're no longer servicing those who have a counselor already"(his words). I asked him why specifically because I told him before that I have a general therapist who helps with my general mental health, but she doesn't specialize in grief therapy, hence why she referred me to them. He then said "we're short staffed and we have others who really need our care on our waiting list" and mentioned that it was the management's decision. Since that told me that he was saying in other words that those people's grief mattered more than mine and/or the others he kicked out(since he admitted he was kicking us out to cater to them on the waiting list, rather than just focusing on hiring more people if they were really short staffed), I then asked to speak to such management, Tom refused and kept saying "I'm sorry, I can't fix that", which I believe is utter BS because if they were able to suddenly make that change in the middle of our sessions, then the right thing can be done and have it be reversed back, but he refused with the "I can't" BS! Moral is, if you have mental health issues on top of your grief that you also receiving support for, do NOT pick this place! They will either deny you on the spot(I've had a lot of losses within 5 years, and have been unable to receive AN OUNCE of grief support within those years because all the places I've reached out to prior to Pathways have all said no simply because of my mental health history) OR they will kick you out mid-care, leaving you in limbo with unfinished grief treatment with the excuses mentioned above! They do not care about clients at all, especially ones that have mental health issues on top of grief, like most other grief places! It seriously is difficult for a mentally ill person to find support for grief for crying out loud!!

Redwood Hospice truly the most amazing godsend that anyone can imagine. Prior to my Mom entering…read moreinto this service, I had preconceived ideas about hospice as 'useful' but 'not something to be spoken about.' I could not have been more wrong. Dr. Joshi takes the time to meet with the family which is unprecedented in this field, and his kindness and serenity meant so much. Dindo Bustrillos was my Mom's nurse and it's hard to fully articulate how wonderful he was, is, and always will be!! His expert knowledge, compassion, patience, good humor, and beauty of spirit were there every day, and I mean EVERY day!! His medical knowledge is bar none - simply outstanding. And, his nurturing presence made such a huge difference as the days wore on and became more difficult. I don't know how Dindo is able to retain and exude joy and caring in such a difficult profession -- the fact that he can hold so much and help during the most harrowing times in such an impactful way is astounding. Thank you so very much to Dindo and Redwood Hospice for your help during the most difficult life transition I can imagine. I am forever grateful.

Redwoods Hospice was absolutely incredible with my father and with me. You could tell that these…read morefolks went above and beyond for the families and patients they cared for. It wasn't just another job for them and they wanted to get to know my father. They walked me through what to expect during the last few days and weeks of my father's transition and made sure to be available for any questions. They responded quickly when we needed to increase visits for my dad and was sensitive and kind throughout. Shout out to Jay, Melissa, Maria, and most importantly Jen, who was there for us the whole way.

If I could give this place a negative I would gladly. They are unreliable and unprofessional. I…read more Called and spoke with an intake person yesterday to schedule an appointment for my father. She scheduled us with an associate for the following day at 2pm. Fast forward to the next day and 5 min away from our appointment, we get a call to let us know they can't make the appointment. They didn't try to call or reschedule the appointment with us. When asked if they can have someone else come out or reschedule, her response was that they are at capacity. So in knowing they were fully booked, they waited to the last minute to call us with no regards to our time that we had to take off from work and our daily lives. Talk about unprofessional!! I hope they treat their patients better than this!!! I will NEVER refer anyone and will also tell the hospital staff about this issue.

We would like to thank you for your great services. Our father was laid to rest on 10/23 surrounded…read moreby loved ones. He died peacefully in his own home just the way he wished. Thank you Josephine for helping me with the slide show and the staff at Seasons for getting him home in time before his last breath. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. . . This is our first time working with Hospice services. Seasons staff were on time and ready to help us with our needs and our dad's needs first.

We are deeply grateful to San Leandro Senior Living for the exceptional care and support they…read moreprovided to our 95-year-old mother during her recovery from a serious femur fracture. From the executive director and management team to the caregivers, dining staff, housekeeping, and everyone we encountered, the compassion, professionalism, and attentiveness were consistently outstanding. The staff treated her with dignity, patience, and genuine warmth while encouraging her independence as she regained strength and confidence. The facility itself was clean, comfortable, and welcoming. Thanks in large part to their quality care and supportive environment, she was ultimately able to return home and resume independent living. Our entire family sincerely appreciates all they did for her. Don K.

Great team that works so well together! Many of the…read moreleadership team have been there for years. I appreciate all they do!

The workers are extremely rude to my parent who is unable to walk. They make them wait for over…read more20mins to go to the bathroom and then shout that they can't get there immediately and to defecate on self. The hallways are also very noisy. it's almost impossible to have a proper phone conversation with my parent. They charge a heck of a lot of money to treat their guests like animals? It's absolutely unacceptable. These people also chose this as a career - now do your darn job with compassion. You never know if you'll ever be in that position one day.

The entire atmosphere and quality of employees' attention to detail and care that I receive on an…read moreindividual level.

I am incredibly grateful for the care my mother received while she was on mission hospice. During…read moresuch a difficult and emotional time for our family, the hospice team treated her with compassion, dignity, patience, and genuine kindness. They were not only attentive to her comfort and symptoms, but they also took the time to support our family, answer our questions, and help us understand what to expect. Their presence brought reassurance during moments that were very hard for us. What stood out most was the humanity of the care. My mother was treated as a person, not simply as a patient. The nurses and hospice staff were respectful, responsive, and compassionate, and we always felt that her comfort and dignity were their priority. Hospice care is something no family ever hopes to need, but when the time came, I was very thankful that my mother was surrounded by people who cared for her with such tenderness and professionalism. I will always be grateful to the entire team for the care they provided to my mother and the support they gave our family.

Mission Hospice has helped my family through a very difficult time and we are forever grateful to…read morethem. My mother-in-law was able to have great care and we didn't have to worry so much. If you are ever looking for a place where your family can spend their days in comfort, please pick Mission Hospice.