Hospice Atlanta

This is the story of how one person can change the world. It is long overdo. My dad died over 6 months ago now, but my gratitude will never expire. My dad was on hospice for 5 weeks. It was our first experience and we had nothing to compare it to. If we had, we would have left long before he died. Lol. Getting his nurse to show up as scheduled, or even at all, was a struggle. She said she lived too far and shouldn’t have to drive that far. He was neglected and if not for the on-call nurse, KELSEY, he would have died with zero dignity. One night when we called after hours for help, KELSEY was the nurse on call. Just one minute on the phone with her had me feeling better. She assured us no distance was too far and when she arrived, she turned the whole thing around for us. I’ll never forget when she looked at me and said, “how about this, how about we just start all the way over? Let’s pretend this is admissions night, ok?” She said he was beginning to “transition” and explained what the body is going through, what to expect, and how we should intervene. She made it her mission to get him meds and she even woke up the pharmacist in the middle of the night. He looked so comfortable after she helped, and sadly the other nurse had told us it was “normal” and didn’t do a single thing!!! Kelsey taught and showed us how to do everything for my dad. She treated him with dignity and respect and validated our concerns. She made us realize that it didn’t have to be a negative experience, that there is beauty in death. She honored him and she honored us. There were so many things wrong, like how his nurse told us that his G-tube shouldn’t be flushed anymore because he’s on hospice. It was clogged and unusable. Kelsey was appalled! brought supplies from her car and fixed him right up! She ensured us the company DOES NOT operate like the way we were experiencing! She immediately went up the chain and had the director call us that night! She validated all of our complaints and fears. That’s the type of nurse a company should want, the type who takes it personally when things fall short. At first, it was embarrassing that we’d let it go so long, but she made us feel better about that too. My dad was assigned a new nurse and it got better, but nothing could compare to the comfort it brought us when KELSEY was in the house. One night when I was freaking out, she spent her entire commute on the phone with me. There wasn’t much “to do” but she just made me laugh and kept me distracted while she drove. That right there is compassion. She didn’t have to do that. You can’t teach that in school! before Kelsey, I was praying my dad would get better, but after receiving her care, I was praying that we could just have her presence when we needed it most. And he died when she was on shift thank God. She handled everything. It was strangely peaceful. This might sound weird, but the night he died was one of the best nights of my life. The stress of years of taking care of him, gone. The stress of not knowing if I was doing good enough by him, gone. We cried a little bit, but we laughed way more. Visiting Nurse Health System is so lucky to have her and all the other nurses should take note. We didn’t have a Chaplain or social worker and Kelsey did encourage us to accept their help, but my father was a proud man and I had promised to limit the amount of people who saw him like that. This review does not include any of the other services besides Nursing. We didn’t even know we could have a CNA to come bathe him because that 1st nurse told us he didn’t need it because we were there all the time and other families weren’t so lucky! Kelsey made sure we knew that family and caregivers were priorities too, and that it was their job to ease our burden, and never their place to judge or to compare. In summary, on call nurse, KELSEY, is a gift from God. To the patients, families, and to her employer, too. I know she is still out there healing broken hearts with her golden one. May the force be with her.

My mom applied for CCS. P services. She was denied because someone sent in the wrong medical records. We did not receive any correspondence about this situation. Now, I\n Have to start a whole new application.

Visiting Nurse Health System | Hospice Atlanta provided excellent care for my wife in her final days with her cancer journey. The nurses and CNA's were so kind, compassionate, and caring. I am grateful to the whole team. They provide excellent grief support afterwards which was so helpful to me as I learned to move forward in life without my wife. They offered both group support as well as individual and I found both very helpful. We are fortunate to have Visiting Nurse Health System | Hospice Atlanta here in the Atlanta area.