Hospice by the Bay

We would like to thank the social worker Sarah S. for her warm heart, support and very effective help. We deeply appreciate it

In early March my mother was told by her doctors that although she had some sort of internal bleeding she was already so frail and sick they couldn’t operate and was given 6 months to live. As it happens, 6 months is the official time that doctors are required to give in order to activate Hospice care.
My mom was only with Hospice for a few weeks. I was able to be there for one of them and witnessed the incredible work of HBTB first hand. Nurses, social workers, delivery people all were compassionate and knowledgeable. A hospital bed was delivered within 3 days of the diagnosis; Morphine almost immediately. My mom who was always prickly screamed at her nurse, who was a few minutes late for his first visit through no fault of his own, and he handled it with complete grace and good humor. He was very early on his second and final visit.
The day she died, my sister was with her and needed someone to help her through the process and the person on the phone was amazing, as was the person who showed up to pronounce my mom.
This experience would have been hell without them!

After the intake I was told someone would come by later to bring some medications. At 6pm I began to wonder how late is late. I began to call them, no one knew anything, they would put me to hold to talk to someone who knew, after many more calls, finally someone said, they would come before 930pm. I said that is way too late, there is no way, come tomorrow, but they could not cancel the order. We stayed up until 930pm and no one came by at all. They can’t even call the driver? Really I asked for the information myself and they would not give it to me. Not even a cell phone to call him? Not even a pager? Are we living in 1980 or 2015? Updated: I am still stuck with Hospice by the Bay because Kaiser only gave me one choice. I was not give a list of choices, but only this one. It seems very much like some sort of sneaky backroom deal. Why not allow the company with the best service rating get all the clients? I am not used to this kind of treatment from a company. Normally if I call I company up and tell them something is unacceptable and I am going to quit, they take care of the problem. I still have not forgiven Hospice by the Bay, and I do not have any warm fuzzy feelings towards them. Its just too much bother to change now, due to all the extra paper work and time it would take to change. This goes against my policy completely. I am still filled with resentment. These drivers from the «pharmacy» sound very shady, but I found I can pick up the medication myself, but I have to lower myself to go to Safeway, one of the lower class Safeway’s. But, there is no way they will go out of business, since Kaiser is giving them all the business they need. They don’t have to pay any attention to how I feel or any of the Unilocal Reviews. So, I suggest when Kaiser gives you Hospice by the Bay, say,” I want to look at list of other Hospices and then do research on them, before deciding.”

The WORST experience of my entire 20 years of Caregiving. Hospice came in the form of a contract nurse w/​ZERO
Communication skills. On her watch, the small bed sore on my mom’s heel became a gaping hole. I had no idea hospice did not treat existing conditions. I wish I had known…
Next came a string of nurses, who all left for greener pastures. Hospice pays their nurses poorly and their aides as little as possible. Meanwhile, the 13 administrators
All get 6 figure salaries. It is a non– profit,
Of course.
I eventually spoke to a lawyer about the
Nightmare I went thru. Please do yourself and your loved ones a favor– DO NOT
USE hospice by the bay unless u want u
Want to see a family member get dragged behind a truck by a bunch of money loving
Administrators.

Many thanks to the social workers, chaplains, visiting nurse, and staff of Hospice By the Bay for their thoughts and assistance after my father passed away two weeks ago. My family and I are truly grateful for the consideration they have shown us in our time of grief. We appreciate it fully.
Hospice care is the end of the road so to speak for those who have no other alternatives. My father sadly was one. But he received the care at a good hospice and we, his family members, received the advice and services of Hospice By the Bay timely.
Thus, truly if one’s loved one is entering hospice I highly recommend considering Hospice By the Bay for advice and all around assistance in the sad journey.

We found out that my mother in law was terminally ill. She lived on the East Coast, so we flew her out to SF to live with us on just a few days notice. She arrived late on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I called Hospice by the Bay to get her set up with care the Monday before she arrived. They were able to connect with her doctors on the East Coast on the same-​day and get her into the system before she arrived. By Tuesday, they had scheduled an appointment for a nurse to come to our house on Wednesday, the morning after she arrived. This swift action was amazing, because we had no idea what we were getting into or how to best care for my MIL.
The nurse was amazing. He explained the purpose of hospice, what resources were available, what we could expect in the next few days, and did an examination of my MIL. Having dementia in addition to her terminal illness, this wasn’t easy. He was patient, calm, and very warm with her and with us. He let us know that Medicare would cover a hospital bed and suggested other durable medical goods that would be useful (and these things were delivered so quickly!). We didn’t even know these were an option, but we sure did need them! The same day, the social worker stopped by for a visit. He was also very warm, comforting, and calm. He was very knowledgeable about the whole process, and helped us to understand what kind of decisions we would have to make, what to do in different scenarios, who to call, what resources were available and covered by Medicare, etc. His demeanor was concerned and caring, yet very informative and matter-​of-​fact. He did not gloss over anything, and we appreciated that. We needed to know what to expect and how to react when things happened. He also gave us a great recommendation on home health aides so that we could start interviewing them for help. I felt like we had found our one-​stop resource for all things relating to our situation.
This was the day before Thanksgiving, so they were short staffed. These were not going to be our permanent staff members, but they were kind enough to fit us in on super short notice on a holiday weekend.
Over the next few days, we had several nurse visits. Some were better than others, but all were competent. Any time we had a question (and we had a lot), we called the nurse line and they got back to us promptly, with good advice. They also sent a home health aide out to bathe my MIL (and also teach us how to do it). This aide was also a wealth of information and helped us understand how to order covered personal care products. She was also gentle and caring with her service.
We were only blessed with 6 days together before my MIL passed away. She left us in the middle of the night, and the on-​call nurse was able to come out to our home within an hour to confirm the death and advise us on next steps. We were already aware of the next steps, because the social worker had explained it all to us on his first visit.
Overall, I could not be more pleased with the way that Hospice by the Bay handled our case. It was an extremely stressful, emotional, and challenging situation. Neither my husband nor I had ever experienced anything like this, and were overwhelmed. The staff truly helped us through it at every step of the process. I cannot imagine what we would have done without their expertise. I would highly recommend them to anyone.

2^nd update-​saw grief therapist only 3
sessions, due to my schedule. Confusing phone tree system. Had to leave many messages. More stress for client in crisis. Needs better intake process & communication w clients.
SF office seems a bit crowded. Bathroom has storage items. Not a nice, relaxing therapeutic environment. No parking available.
Liked my therapist, yet then was told via voicemail she was resigning. No call from her supervisor to help me find new therapist. Back to square one alone w grief. Thanks.

Having your family member placed on hospice is a very scary and emotional time in ones life. Such was the time my father was dying from cancer.
We were told he had weeks to live and were contacted by Hospice by the Bay. We were told a nurse would come the following Friday. She was late by an hour. She came she chatted with us. Took down our expectations, needs, and wants. And left. His actual nurse would come the following week to check up on him and us. She was cold and completely jaded (maybe no fault of her own– I get it you have to turn off in order to deal). The social worker came a couple of days later, he was already transitioning to death, and she was even more non-​emotional. Offered no comfort what so ever. Maybe its me. But staff with hospice should have some sort of emotional comfort in their nature. There was non so far.
A new nurse had come by days later to take a look while he was in coma already. Told us he had hours to live and left us. She was the very first to look at him. But not completely. It was days later and you can tell he was suffering. He wanted to live but his body was done. He was struggling to make every next breath. It was unbearable to watch. I called the service, I had run out of options, no medications given to us were helping.
Hours later. HOURS. A nurse was able to stop by to help. She was the first who seemed to care. She was the only that wanted to sit and listen to us. What was going on with my father? And wanted to help. She ended up staying hours with us. Calling the on-​call physician. Trying to figure out was going on. She gave us emotional support. Comfort. She cared. She was the only one.
A couple hours later. After she had helped us gather a new medication regiment was my father able to rest in peace. After THREE days of suffering.
Anytime I called the service it took anywhere from 1 – 2 hours to have anyone get back to you. First you call the service. Then a on-​call nurse calls you back (may take forever). And if, only then if they deem it necessary, does an RN come out to see you. If one available that is. If you are calling the service, you are in despair, you need help. Waiting hours does not elevate such anxieties.
The service that dropped off the O2 tanks, dropped off an empty tank, and with no facial mask.
Frustration does not even begin to start to explain my feelings about this place.
I am writing this not to be punitive. I am sure there are employees that do care. I would just like you, whoever you are, to be aware of the needs of the family while caring for a dying family member.

Hospice by the Bay did a wonderful job of helping my family through my mother’s decline and death. My mother’s greatest wish was to die at home. She did not want to die in a hospital and, at the time she left us, she was definitely ready to go. We put her into hospice care twice — the first time, she ended up being discharged after three months because she rallied and got better for a while. The second time, she died within two weeks of being discharged from the hospital into home hospice.
The people we interacted with at Hospice by the Bay were, to a person, helpful, sensitive and kind. When my mother was in hospice the first time, they helped her with quality of life and care, though admittedly, we did not need a tremendous amount of help as she was able to afford her own 24 hour care. The second time, they were there for us when she died. That was, for me, the time that they shone.
My only small gripe was that sometimes, responses were a little slow. That is, when we called for a nurse, it sometimes took longer than I would have liked for a nurse to get to our house. In no way did those delays adversely affect my mother’s health or well-​being, however. And, when the nurses did come, they were efficient and absolutely on top of the situation.
It is a very difficult thing to make decisions about a dying parent. I felt that the nurses and other support staff from HBTB were extremely helpful and sensitive throughout the process. On the day my mother died, a HBTB nurse was with us for several hours, helping us to make my mother comfortable and helping me deal with things like contacting a priest and, then, the mortuary. I was utterly grateful for her capable and compassionate presence. I really do not know how I could have made it without her. My mother’s passing was peaceful and our experience was, in so far as such experiences can be, a good one.

As a former paramedic who oversaw and participated in the hospice care for my mother, I strongly recommend the services and support I received by Hospice by the Bay.
I had to lean on them hard at times for care guidance and support — their responsiveness was excellent. Their staff, from in-​house nursing to nursing phone advice line to spiritual advisor to social worker, were smart, excellent listeners and gave sound, clear, definitive advice. My only regret was that I did not call MORE often early on when I was uncertain if I was providing the best care possible for my mom.
At a point where I was quite uncertain about my mom’s status and clearly upset (hey, its a big life event and grief will cloud the picture at times), they sent a nurse out immediately to confirm everything was ok. Their demeanor with me as the primary caregiver was incredibly reassuring.
The grief counseling sessions afterward (ongoing) are great for getting a more full understanding of the grief process, how it affects us, and how to meet those feelings when they come up.
My mom passed away with great peace, and in her final days they had instilled in me the guidance I needed to make sure mom was provided with all the care and comfort she needed.
I owe them a huge debt of gratitude for their skill, compassion, and service to me and my family.

If you are ever in need of caring professionals to look after a loved one and even yourself in coping… hospice by the bay are the folks to call. They responded super quickly which eased my friend’s anxiety quite a bit. They understood the balance in medicines to ease pain and those that made her groggy, they helped make her last weeks with us as good as possible.

We had Lauren Kenney, the Bereavement Services Manager, come by and speak to my staff about processing, coping, and working through Grief and Loss.
Lauren connected well with staff and provided a lot of useful information and resources. So great that they are able to go out and provide this kind of community outreach, support, and education as part of what they do onsite.
Thank you so much Hospice By The Bay!
–Your Friends at Lutheran Social Services of Northern California

It seems like the caregivers at Hospice by the Bay do not communicate with each other. We were told that they would provide eight hour care during the evening for someone to watch over my dying grandmother. We were subsequently told by another rep that this was not a service that they provide and that we would have to pay for a private care giver. It has been three days since then and we are now told that this IS a service that they can provide.
I can’t believe how ridiculous their level of internal communication is.
We were also told that they could not send a nurse during the day to administer pain meds. It seems like they are taking advantage of the fact that we have caring family members to take care of this during the day. Who ever heard of a care facility that is only able to send providers at night?! It really feels like they are just trying to cut corners!
If you are in need of care for a dying loved one, I would definitely search elsewhere!

I could not believe the difference in quality of care and of pain control when my friend moved from the hospital to Hospice by the Bay. At last we had found caring, competent, skilled pain control and incredible attention to the process of dying and loss that we were all going through. I will be eternally grateful to this team of people who have a calling to do work that most of us would be not able to do. Should I need hospice care again for a loved one or myself, I couldn’t imagine going anywhere else.

It is worth 5 stars, they earned it entirely. I don’t wont to go into details, since it brings painful memories, but I will recommend this place with whole my heart.

Hospice by the Bay offers a very important outreach to people suffering with serious and terminal illness. They also extend services to the family members who are close to those in need of hospice.
I learned that when grief is heavy it is important to go to someone who can listen and help.
Hospice by the Bay was very helpful to me and my family.
See web link for details about their grief counseling services…

The most caring, wonderful people in the world to assist a loved one
at the end of life. They have cared for both my father, and my father in law and have made their journey easier and more comfortable. They also offer support to the families and friends who are going through this difficult journey. Everyone I deal with here has been more than wonderful. I don’t even have words to express how they make me feel. After the person has passed, they still contact you from time to time to see how you are doing. We in the Bay Area are extremely lucky to have this organization.