Banner Hospice House

Caring80169350

For the last week of my mother's life, we had Banner Hospice. It seemed like the staff was very caring, but they ended up taking Mom to the wrong mortuary. I thought that the chaplain was sort of invasive. She sort of had her own assumptions and her own opinions. I’m sure she’s trying to be helpful, but I didn’t appreciate it. My parents were talking about moving in with me. Now my dad wanted to, my mother didn’t. The social worker pretty much ordered, or somebody at hospice told my dad not to do anything, no major decisions for one year. My dad's almost 95. I’m not sure he's got a year. This happened in the hospital, too. The social workers went to see Mom and said they thought she should move into a group home. Well, where's family in all of this? Family has their opinions and their agenda as well, and I just didn’t appreciate outsiders directing my parents as to what they should do. They made no attempt to work with our family. They had their own opinions. My sister and I had both been just incredibly disappointed in the healthcare system down there in Sun City West. It’s supposed to be so great, and that’s why people move there. But I will say that when I first called Banner Hospice, and every time I talked to them on the phone, they were incredibly helpful and caring. The phone experience was better than the actual being there experience. I double checked the mortuary to make sure they knew who to call, and yet the wrong one was called. I don’t understand that. Then they moved Mom to the right mortuary, and they picked up the cost. They could’ve done better. They really don’t interact with you. We would be in the room with Mom and the other people; there wasn’t too much going on there. The chaplain made sure she came in and spoke with me a couple of times. The social worker introduced herself, and then the person, I think who was running it, stopped in, and that was very disingenuous. But no big deal. The nurses, if we asked anything, were helpful.