VITAS Healthcare - Lakeland

VITAS is above 5 stars for my mom an I!! Ever since we began with there service, the 3 lady's helping us,have been outstanding! I mean,outstanding, the only help I've had with my mother's care..They have helped us along the way with out missing a beat. Case Manager Michelle, Nurse Chris an cna Selena are outstanding, professional, honest, dedicated an so so much help!! Carlos morales...

If I could give a negative review on this company. both parents were on hospice. Dad passed a year and a half ago Mom still on it was still on it until she went into the hospital for a fall. Social Worker came to my house with a piece of paper had me sign. It didn’t explain anything. She was done it says she was going to rehab. She is home with me. Never went to rehab never told them she went to rehab no explanation nothing and then I’m gonna tell me if I wanna come back to give them a call, never will never will. The service was horrible. Had the video show pictures to the nurse showing what my mother was doing on a daily it was laughed at nothing was done but up medication‘s nothing was done. It was not safe for her to be in my home. Nobody cared this place. Sucks wouldn’t recommend.

Unfortunately Vitas is a terrible representation of Hospice. They do not honor the services they promise when consulting with them. My Dad was in the hospital and he wasn't getting any better so Hospice was the next step. After speaking with Vitas Hospice we decided to go with their services. We were told my Dad would be placed on continuous care comfort measures. The most important reason we signed with Vistas was because we were promised my dad would be in no pain that he would be kept comfortable throughout the entire process. We were to have a selected team waiting for my Dad upon discharge. One nurse called and asked that I phone her when my dad arrived. I did, she came, and she left but not before telling me a doctor and another nurse would be in to discuss my dads medications. The next morning a doctor and a sub nurse showed up, spoke with my dad whom was very confused and left but before leaving de told me my dad had only days to live oh and someone would be out to deactivate my Dad's pacemaker. What pacemaker? My Dad didn"t have a pacemaker. They were there to assess and evaluate my dad but they didn't do a skin sweep, no medications were discussed, no next step plans, they were literally there 10 minutes then left. We did not see anyone until we called that night at 10pm because my dad was in so much pain. Dispatch told us a nurse would give us a call right back. It was 1am (3hours later) when we got a call back. It was a nurse stating he would be coming but it would take him an hour to reach us. Mind you I sent a text to another nurse asking for help and explained the situation. Never responded. So my Dad suffered those four hours due to the negligence of Vitas hospice. When the nurse arrived he examined my Dad, got a hold of a doctor to increase the frequency of the morphine to Q2H instead Q4H for the pain and Ativan the same for anxiety. I thought the nurse would be with us throughout the morning until someone else showed to take his place. I was wrong, as he was packing up his charting device and my sister asked what we should do. Should we notify our brother so he can be here and the nurse said let me look at your dad one more time, he did and his answer was no it wasnt time to call in the family, so we didn't. We asked where the other nurse was since he was leaving because we were promised 24 hour care and my Dad was in critical need of 24 care. He responded by saying no time soon because they were not adequately staffed. I told him were promised 24 hour care from Rachel and he looked at me and said very calmly oh she shouldnt have done that! Seriously, this is my Dad lying here suffering but no one seems to care about doing their job. By now its 3 am, me and my sister stayed by our dad's side watching him cry out saying oh god oh god help me. Gasping for air. His color had significantly changed, his body temp dropping, his breaths becoming more and more shallow. The morphine gave him little comfort. We were facing this all alone. My Dad passed away that morning at 6:39. The chaplain showed up some time after 7am and he then called the time of death. He was the only who was there, besides the sub nurse who only came to find out the what the time of death was then left. The chaplain stayed by our side until my Dad's body was removed. The chaplain was remarkable. He was informative, caring, compassionate, he went above and beyond. But, I still don't know how to feel, how to comprehend everything, I can't unsee what I saw. I cant get my dad's suffering out off my head. I feel like a big part of me died that morning too. Its been almost 3 days since my dad passed and we've yet to hear from VitasHospice. Where do we go from here.........