VITAS Healthcare Fort Lauderdale, FL

The intake people that come out from Vitas ARE GREAT!! They are kind and caring and tell you everything to make you feel comfortable and get you to sign up. Well after that EVERYTHING CHANGES!!!! I should have seen the RED LIGHTS when the lead nurse for the case came to the house and explained 'I ONLY work Monday through Friday 6a-5p. You can call me in that window. Outside of that window call the 800#' Well she did not lie about that. True to her word. Only M-F and 6-5! When this nurse would do a visit she spent more time playing with my dog and taking pictures of the dog then caring for the patient! She would argue with me about care. There was a wound that she did not want a wound specialist to come in. I had to fight to get a wound specialist! One time the dressing needed changing. It was a day of the doctor visit and no nurse visit that day. When the doctor was here HE WOULD NOT CHANGE THE DRESSING!!! The nurse had to make a special trip (and Medicare Charge) to change the dressing!!!! Then there was the argument about a special medication for the wound. Vitas would not pay for it so they would not prescribe it EVEN THOUGH IT WAS WHAT WAS NEEDED!!!! I had to go out to the patients primary care to prescribe it for me and I went and paid cash. The wound started to go away!!! Let me share with you the evening that the patient passed away. It was a Saturday evening. He stopped breathing at 6pm when he stood up. We laid him back down and he started breathing again. I started calling the Vitas 800# as it was Saturday. I was put on hold for over 40 minutes. Hung up called back and same thing all over again! I kept calling Vitas to send someone out to go through this with me (AS WAS PROMISED WHEN THEY DID THE INTAKE). I kept getting disconnected or put on hold. While waiting on hold the patient took his last breath at 805pm!! I hung the phone up. At 820pm someone from Vitas called me and said they would come over. USE ANOTHER HOSPICE COMPANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was a horrible experience that I would not wish on anyone else.

Waiting over 6+ hours for assistance for my Mom

They seemed very disorganized. One nurse changes prescriptions and a CPL hours later a different nurse or Dr. Changes it again. Also, no hospice nurse came to stay with my dying father. When in Crisis mode we were transferred to 4 different ppl and placed on hold each time. It was pathetic. I was very disappointed in how they reacted. The Chaplain was good though

My mother was in vitas hospice. Their care was horrendous. The medication that mother received at high doses made her agitated and increased her risk of stroke. EIther they are too cheap or too ignorant about choice of medications. DO NOT put your trust in VITAS Fort Lauderdale

My husband had surgery and could not get out of bed for 1 1/2 years. They accepted his case and provided an aide 5 days a week until towards the end it was 7 days a week. The various nurses were mostly good, My team was 179. The Chaplain and Physician Dr. Nara and Eugenie my Aide were very good to us. They listened to all my problems and were very sympathetic. At the end the Chaplain was with me. The Social worker Patricia went out of her way to be of help, even when I was short on money, got a Podiatrist for my husband and got me a small grant to pay for it. I could not provide the care they gave us nor there 24 hour on call emergency number. They came when I was at my wits end at 9:00pm on a Sunday nite. So they were like angels and guided me through this awful process. The Chaplain even found me an Inexpensive Funeral Service. I can't recommend them enough.

My mother was in hospice with vitas for about 3 months. I was rarely called unless there was an issue. The nurse that was assigned to my mother was nice but I had a hard time understanding her accent. In the beginning of March I was unable to go and see my mother in the nursing home due to pandemic. On April 6 I received a call from the nursing home saying she was declining and that a vitas nurse was on the way to evaluate the situation when she came they were going to have 24hr bedside care but then there were no nurses available (apparently many called out) so she wanted to move my mother to a vitas care Center at first I said no because I didn't think she should be moved, but the nursing home was really not able to give my mother bedside care (because that's what vitas was hired for) and the evaluating nurse wasn't going to stay with her. So I said ok. They transported her sometime around midnight and when she arrived at the center she was not breathing and was gone 12:30 am. Who moves a dieing women in the middle of the night. The chaplain called me a few days later and wanted to send me a condolence card, never received anything. Now I'm still dealing with Medicaid so of course vitas can get paid.

Please do yourself a favor and hire SOMEONE ELSE. This agency was horrible. There was no communications between team members, a different nurse every time, no consistency. No one knew what the previous one had done. No one addressed any issues. It was a complete nightmare.

Wish I could give 0 stars! What a nightmare this company is in Fort Lauderdale I would avoid them 100% and go with another company. the only person that was helpful with this group was Maria who was a nurse that was my main contact among many other phone numbers that I was told to contact them by. However Maria was the only one who answered my calls answered my concerns and helped me through a horrible 3 weeks of hospice care for my father. up until the day he was discharged from there hospice care and into my lap, she was very helpful. they do not transfer their patients to other hospice companies outside of the Vitas program. it is not their policy to assist you in helping a smooth transition to another hospice. I was told that once he is discharged he is my responsibility and it would be my responsibility to find another physician to authorize his hospice care when I take him out of their system. Discharge day was a nightmare as it was explained to the team that I wanted all the paperwork completed the prior day and I wanted medication enough for him for his travel and for a couple of weeks during his transition to be available for me when I came to pick him up. None of this was completed, the discharge paperwork, the nurse that arrived had no idea he was getting discharged and had no discharge paperwork on hand. And I explained to her to call her company to get it squared away and she did however it took 2 hours for them to find a discharge form and then I asked about the medication she knew nothing about the medication to order and unfortunately I had to leave with my father with no medication. once arriving to his new destination I called the new hospice company that we were transferring him to on our own without any help from Vitas and within an hour I had 15 days worth of medications and immediate help Once I arrived at his new facility. I apologize for such a harsh and negative evaluation and review of Vitas, but something needs to be done with this company what customer service and with patient care. Avoid them find someone else, or find Maria she will help you out without the help of the other team players of Vitas that are unable to connect with you as they are extremely busy in that area with close to 2,000 patients and insufficient staffed and inexperienced staffed and uncaring staff.