Homewatch CareGivers

We are doing just fine with the help from the community. The caregivers are on time when needed. We are fine with all they do.

We had a decent experience with this home care agency. It did get a bit expensive to continue services with them. I will say the owner was good to work with. They really tired their best to help us. The situation just got to difficult to continue with home care. This is a good home care agency.

I was very pleased that our urgent requirement for a caregiver for my husband was accommodated with almost no notice (due to disappointing results from prior arranged services with another company). My husband continues to be a Fall Risk, and has sustained a brain injury, due to a prior fall. I contracted services through Gary Spector of “Home Watch Care Givers”. We were able to complete the required paperwork and have the first visit take place the same evening. I was grateful that despite the late notice, Gary was able to cover the required shifts (Tuesday evening through to Friday evening) by assigning three separate individuals to the task. While I was out of country on business, my husband reported to me that he was pleased with his Care Givers. Upon my returning home on July 29th, I was dismayed to learn that a number of things had transpired untoward. An assigned Care Giver had permitted my husband to walk out to the roadway to “see her off” following her final shift on July 29th, instead of insisting that he remain in the house. Following her departure and just prior to entering our home from inside our garage, my husband sustained a fall and injured his knee. He couldn’t get up by himself. My return flight arrival was delayed. Just happenstance that neighbours were walking along our street and saw my husband on the ground. They rushed to his aid and obtained additional assistance from another neighbour … got him up then brought him into the house, staying with him until my arrival about 10pm. Although I had indicated that my husband didn’t require any assistance w/grooming … the Care Giver insisted on bathing him and “practically got into the shower w/him” … when I asked my husband why there was a shower cap on the counter … I was advised that it was offered to the Care Giver, but she declined. I then learned that upon my husband’s exiting the shower … the Care Giver got into and took a shower herself. Although I did not contract for the Care Giver to run any errands … my husband requested the Care Giver drive him to the following: 1. Trip to Liquor Store 2. Trip to Pick Up His Watch At the Jeweler 3. Trip to Pick Up Chinese Food Takeout I would have fully expected that the Care Giver consult w/her Supervisor prior to taking a Fall Risk patient on any outing … and subsequently, I would have further expected that the Supervisor contact me directly to confirm whether any of the above trips were ok to proceed with. None of these trips were necessary, although I am less concerned about items 2 & 3. It is in particular item 1 that is of concern, my husband is not allowed to drink alcohol as per his physicians. Contracted Services included reminders to my husband for Medication, Blood Pressure Readings and Glucose Readings. Although there were Glucose Readings taken, there were no Blood Pressure Readings whatsoever and further, my husband’s July 29th Dinner medication remained in the Daily pill box holder. I have reviewed these concerns with Gary [Removed], who assured me that he will follow up with his Team in regard to the above concerns. Initial feedback from his Team was that with exception of the watch pickup, neither of the other items transpired. I have provided Gary with further proof (ie. LCBO receipt w/date & time stamp, that there remained Chinese Food Takeout in our fridge upon my return, and further a notation in my husband’s calendar about the shower). Gary is re-interviewing one of his Team in that regard. My husband and I were dismayed that one of Gary’s Team was less than truthful w/him and instead attempted to discredit my husband’s reporting of the events. Notwithstanding, I would re-employ Homewatch Care Givers in future. I am satisfied that the above events are not condoned nor acceptable practice for the company. Our requirements for Care Givers is on an adhoc basis only.

Terrific approach for homecare. Wonderful to work with.

Working with Kokua Care was an okay experience. I utilized services for my wife for the time I have to work and it worked out for a while. They were great about finding someone to start right away which I really appreciated although the caregiver was not the best match for our situation. My wife suffers from alzheimers and needs to be prompted with showering which the caregiver did not seem to be comfortable with. After four days she quit and it was hard for them to find a replacement because of where I live. The agency ended up referring me to Kilohana Senior Enrichment Center which has truly been a blessing! It has helped me save money on services that are needed and they are great. It's been a complete turn around as far as my wife's mood. It has really made things easier to cope. I would definitely give them 10 starts. i couldn't be more thankful that Kokua told me about the senior center!

I really have not been very pleased at all with the communities I was referred out too. This community maybe not a long one for my loved one at all. I perhaps will very shortly be looking for another resources for communities. Overall I say its an okay environment but not my desired place of stay.

Our experience has been average across the board. The caregivers themselves have been generally friendly, although we've encountered some unprofessional behavior (excessive smoke breaks, hesitance to provide care, etc). We've also had issues with scheduling and/or tardiness more than once. Again, no major issues, but the service does not inspire confidence. We may try out a different agency soon.

The guy who came out, the initial person, management I guess you'd call him, he was very nice. Very, very nice. The other people who came, I would give them about a 4. I wasn't happy witht he value at all. The care depends on which girl you get. The first girl was very poor. She should never have been in the business. The second girl was a little bit better and the last girl was very good. I wish we could have kept the last girl but I ended up moving my mom to assisted living.

Sometimes they send care givers that go above and beyond and sometimes we get care givers that only do what they are told to do. When you have care givers that do everything and go above and beyond you start to expect that every time. Overall they are a pretty good company and they are providing the proper service so far.

2 Hour Min. Light Housework, laundry, meals, medicines, Transportation, etc.

4 hour min. flat rate for 2 hours

personal care, MA/CMA's/aids,70 caregivers,caregivers trained monthly, bonded & insured, 24/7, cleaning; light housekeeping/personal care, 3 hr minimum.

My experience with Homewatch-Westlake is a mixed experience. It was good that someone was around to help my brother-in-law but due to the relationship that developed between my brother-in-law and the home health aid, and the fact that his bill for the in-home service increased to 5 days a week not 2 to 3 days as originally set up by us. We were flooded when we received the statement from them for their services. We are the POA for my brother-in-law and we should have been informed of the increase in care before it happened. The relationship that developed with care giver was a real concern to us and we felt it had to be stopped. We have talked with the director and the head of nursing about the relationship and they have addressed the issue with the care giver and we have in fact stopped using their service. My brother-in-law was lead to believe that Medicare was paying for everything so we insisted that they take their statement to him directly and explain to him that he is responsible for the whole balance. It was an eye opener for my brother-in-law when he had to pay the full amount. We would consider using Homewatch-Westlake again only if they would honor the fact that we are the POA in control of my brother-in-law's total care. They did take my brother-in-law to his doctor appointments but the care giver did not clean nor do any of the shopping, which did cause a lot of problems as well. I would most likely not use Homewatch-Westlake again as they did not honor the fact that we were the POA for my brother-in-law

When using this service was trying to get staff and when they had people it was wonderful. said things and did not come through for me

I wanted some home care post a surgical procedure done at a local hospital and I found their services disappointing. I was unable to arrange appropriate care for my needs, for there was no room for flexibility. The first caregiver showed up nearly 30 minutes late, and the second caregiver was 1 hour late at the hospital. The communication between staff and scheduling was poor at best!

The owner at this company was wonderful as well as the account manager [Removed], however the caregiver that was assigned to my loved one was awful. She never took the time to do activities with him or engage in his interest. The lady also was never attentive to his needs and always just wanted to sit and watch television and lounge around the house. We finally decided to end our service after two weeks when she took him on an unauthorized outing in a really bad part of town.

We are disappointed with the service. The caregivers did very little. Their cooking skills were terrible. We had more than 17 different caregivers over a period of 4 weeks. And maybe 3 of them did anything. Would not use this service again.

I hired this company to help with the care of my mother, who is having memory issues and needs standby help. Needless to say, after 4 months and many caregivers later, we switched companies due to lack of consistency and incompetence of the caregivers. It was so stressful and exhausting having to explain over and over the ins and outs of mom’s care and the duties of the house. They had difficulty retaining information, perhaps they just didn’t care. There was the usual, falling asleep, eating our food, overstepping their role, staring at their phones.

I would not recommend Homewatch Care Givers of Alabama located in Huntsville, AL. They started providing home health care for my mother on 5/31/16 and we terminated their services on 6/17/16. They were supposed to provide four hours of care five days a week(Monday through Friday). During that fourteen day window, the caregiver showed up only eight days. When I called the owner of the company to terminate their services she acted surprised. She said, " is it because we missed all of this week"? We are now using [Removed] and are very happy with their services.

Disappointing experience. In my experience what what was promised & contracted was not what I received in fact they did not deliver on the most important part, they promised a care provider with a car but ended up it was a caregiver with NO car! I should have cancelled the service at that point but we were in such a bind we had no other options. I contacted them to tell them how many hours of service were provided and they responded with an over charge to credit card! When I asked them to point out the error they said no, its correct! It took an additional 10 days for the manager to respond and he said he would only give me a partial refund if I took down my unfavorable review I had posted on line. Not a professional way to practice business in the service industry in my opinion!