Bridgeway Healthcare & Hospice - Baton Rouge

My mom passed away two weeks ago and was under the care of Bridgeway Hospice, who came highly recommended by my mother's primary care provider. I would like to commend the amazing CNA Felicia who is an experienced compassionate CNA who gave great care to my mom. She is a blessing. However, the rest of our experience with Bridgeway could have been more organized. I think they could benefit from hiring experienced Hospice nurses. The admission process was not smooth. The on call nurse and a marketing coordinator came to admit mom that evening and we were told equipment would be delivered the next day. In the late afternoon the next day, no calls from anyone from hospice or DME had been received and it was a Friday heading into weekend so I called Bridgeway. I spoke to a nurse named Carly who asked when we had signed consents. She apparently didn't know my mom was a patient or the paperwork hadn't been received. I told her consents had been signed the night before but someone had to come back that morning as a page had been missed. She ordered equipment stat and oxygen and suction arrived later that night. I asked about liquid medication as my mom's swallowing was getting weak and there was a delay of 24 hours getting the emergency kit supplied from the pharmacy. While the nurses were kind and compassionate, many did not seem experienced in hospice. One came that wasn't her normal nurse and suggested I go get Robitussin or Mucinex for her cough. My mom was having the death rattle and couldn't swallow due to having had a stroke in the previous days. She was having to be suctioned. As a nurse, I knew she could choke if I administered an oral medication in her condition. What If I hadn't known this could cause her to aspirate? The hardest part was the morning my mother died (which was before 6 am when an on call nurse would be covering) the phone from Bridgeway was "temporarily unavailable" for over 2 and a half hours. In the past when I called Bridgeway the phone routed to an answering service but not on this day. I even called from three separate phones with different carriers to make sure it wasn't an issue with my phone carrier. During this delay my mother's body was in the room going into rigor mortis because no one was able to come until she had been gone for 4 hours. By the time they came she was very blue. There was no explanation provided for what had occurred with the phone system except that it was "unacceptable". When the nurse came, I showed her the recorded video I had made of what the unavailable message said. The nurse hugged us and said someone would call and check on us. No one has. After a week of no calls, I called Bridgeway to try to talk to someone about my concerns because I would hate for another family or patient to have go through this or be unable to reach them in an emergency. It was troubling me. I called last Thursday and asked to speak to a Quality person or a director. I was told that everyone was in a meeting and a message was taken and someone would call me back. Yet again no one has called. I think Bridgeway should take the money they spend on marketing to be the "Official Hospice for LSU and the Ragin Cajuns" and spend it on getting someone to answer their phones 24/7/365 as they promise so that they can respond when the patients they serve are needing their help.

Bridgeway took care of my Grandpa. Although he died on my favorite holiday, it was a blessing to have their staff in our home!

Bridgeway came highly recommended from a friend and we were not disappointed. We only had them for a short time - 4 days to be exact - but they delivered on everything they said they would and in less time than expected. They made a huge impression on my father and my family. We highly recommend them.