Visiting Nurse Association of Northern New Jersey Review

Weird. We had like the same problem like the person who wrote this ..........

"The "nursing" care from the Hospice nurse....she has her OWN agenda and that obviously does not include the care of the patient OR the caregiver."

Do not use the VNA Of Northern NJ hospice. You get promised the greatest and most detailed services ever but it s all just a sales pitch. Once you sign up in and the service starts, you realize it was just a sales pitch and you are left holding the bag. I wouldn t recommend them to my worst enemy.

Get everything in writing before you sign up with them.

Found this on YELP:

The claims that VNA NNJ makes in its promotional material about the level, quality of care and range of services offered fall markedly short of what is actually provided. One can only conclude that Medicare funded palliative/hospice care as delivered by VNA NNJ is driven by the bottom line, with little concern or compassion for human needs.
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Found this post from a VNA hospice nurse case manager on "Glassdoor":
Mar 4, 2016. (Whoever wrote this, please share your experiences with the media and proper medical authorities.)

"hospice nurse case manager"

Former Employee - Anonymous Employee

Cons
" , , , questionable ethics regarding patients signing up for hospice."

Avoid this company at all costs!! Seriously -consider yourself warned!! if you do decide to go with this company, make sure you get everything in writing. This organization is run by Young and unexperienced staff. My father was out of the hospital for almost a week before they even sent someone here for an actual nursing visit. All the visiting nurse did was check his blood pressure and his temperature. I could've done that myself. At that point they told me it would be another week before someone would even come to bathe him... completely and totally unacceptable. The communication was awful and The staff would constantly break their appointments without even a phone call. I left numerous Messages with the supervisor, Amanda, and never received a return call. It is completely evident that there are no policies, practices or training in place. I am totally embarrassed for them. They are dealing with people who have serious health issues and family members who are counting on them for their expertise and compassion. I was unable to find any of this at the visiting nurse Association of New Jersey. Save yourself the heart ache and avoid them altogether

I recently had a terrible experience with the Hospice unit of this organization used by my Mother. Although the RN that did weekly visitation was wonderful VNA is supposed to have someone available 24/7 to speak with. They are paid by Medicare. During the night my mother began gasping for air around 2:30 AM, she was receiving hospice at home, and she never had this gasping before. I called about 2:35 AM and got voice mail, left a detailed message asking for what I should do to help her, no return call, called again about half hour later, no return phone call, called again about a half hour later and left another message. At about 4 AM Allison returned my phone call who was not a nurse and asked if I wanted a nurse to call back and I said Of Course!!! She then called back at 4:15 AM and said I tried to get a hold of the On Call Nurse but she did not respond so I left her a message. Then nothing. My mother stopped breathing about 9:45 AM.
I have no words to express how I feel about having no one to help me through her last night.

My mom was disharged home after a triple bipass and multiple toe amputations. We were told the nurse would be coming Mondays, Wednesday s, and Fridays, but that didn t happen. CONSISTENT MULTIPLE NO CALL NO SHOWS. Would not recommend these people to anyone in need of care whatsoever.

I have worked with this organization for many years and know the management team to be highly ethical and compassionate, so if there is a concern by patient or caregivers I suggest contacting management for discussion.

They show up whenever and sometimes not at all and don't call you. If they do bother to call you it is to ask you if they really need to send an aide because it is getting late in the day. They don't do holiday weekends which means if the government is off for say veterans day then they are off that whole weekend. People need care even on holidays!

Our family is so grateful for the services we have received from the Visiting Nurse Association. Our mother lives with us and she suffers from Alzheimer's disease. She has been participating in the VNA's social daycare program, Friendship House, since 2011. We do not know what we would do without this program. Every day Elba (our mother) looks forward to getting up, getting dressed and going out to be with her friends at "her program". The Director and staff are always professional, hardworking, and caring. They get to know each client personally, their likes and dislikes, as well as their special needs. They plan wonderful activities to keep them stimulated all day - gardening, art projects, exercise, games, holiday celebrations, and more. We are convinced that, without this program and its caring staff, Elba would have experienced a much more rapid decline both mentally and physically. Our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone connected with Friendship House.

West Orange Office Missed visits no call some of them are very unprofessional and rude need to care more about their patients and train them better some of them are clueless about how to do their job and be compassionate They don't seem to care about the consequences of the missed visits when a patient has to return to the hospital because of their negligence and they blame it on the patients health when the patient is relying on them management just say what you want to hear and does nothing about the rude and inappropriate behavior of the nurses that come into my home and are disrespectful to my mom and me they refuse to take responsibility now my mom has a 2nd infected wound because they missed visits and didn't change it on time my mom in so much pain now they always say they understand they cant possibly understand what shes going through because they are part of the problem is there a better home care company in Northern NJ tired of this one

Use any other service but this one!
No communication/scheduling whatsoever. Never knew for sure when/if someone was actually coming. No one bothered to call to tell you. And honestly, I don't think that the people who visited actually cared. Medicare ... who was paying for the visits (when they actually happened) definitelt got ripped off. The nurse visited for maybe 15 minutes...whenever she actually decided to show up -- what a joke. The PT was good. The OT was very good. Nurse stunk...she watched as I bandaged my mother's leg. No instruction, no offer to assist and/or show how to do it. She was useless throughout.

All they care about is signing as many people up as possible. Completely unethical company. Find a private company that cares. This one is money hungry.

Had an interview for the office in Morristown, NJ a couple of years ago and never have I left an interview knowing that this place was not for me. I was told I had perfect answers to interview questions and then kept getting weird questions asked to see me fail. Diversity clearly isn't accepted in the the Morristown. NJ office.

My family member is on Hospice and needs nursing care and they receive this through VNA of northern New Jersey! THEY HONSTLY STINK....i feel that they DO NOT CARE about an idividuals heath needs and they lack any "hospice" care at all. My family member who is the caregiver of my family memeber who needs the service is lead to feel that what or how the individual doctors for the person receiving care dictates, they do NOT care, they will do what "they" feel is needed, dispite how the very caring individual of that family member is providing! This certain family member has only had ONE (1) loyal and experienced care giver and the others do not perform CNA duties at all and are a hinderance NOT a help at all, not to mention the "nursing" care from the Hospice nurse....she has her OWN agenda and that obviously does not include the care of the patient OR the caregiver. SHe does what SHE believes is right....not what she is told! I AM DISGUSTED BY THIS AND DO NOT KNOW HOW TO HELP....

About a week before Christmas we were given the news that there was nothing else that could be done for my mother, who had been battling cancer. Her doctor was having hospice call us the next day to set everything up for us to keep my mother comfortable. After almost a week of no phone call, I called her oncologist and asked if we were supposed to call them, and she said no they should have called by now. She put in to have them call us AGAIN and when they finally did, they wanted to come on Christmas Day. We didn t want to ruin my mom s last Christmas so we asked for them to come the day after. They were extremely rude about that request. The nurse was a very nice person, but was NOT A HOSPICE NURSE. Why was my mother s case given to the VNA if they did not have a hospice nurse available? We were supposed to have her come on Mondays and Wednesday s, but the schedule had been changed to Tuesday s, and Thursday s without telling us. So on a Monday we were waiting and had no one show up. My mother had gotten really bad on that Monday, and as a family who did not know how to take care of someone who was dying we really could have used the support, and assurance that we were doing everything we could. We were not shown how to administer any medication until we asked to be shown. Eventually we were given an aid to come 3 times a week. She was an absolute sweetheart, and it s a shame that she works for such a horrible company. I had called my mother s doctor to switch services, and they had called the vna to find out what was going on, and they basically told them I was a liar. I was told the director would be calling me, but to no surprise I never received a phone call. We had asked for multiple medical supplies that we never received ( glycerin swabs, bedside commode, diapers) and many other things that we had to ask multiple times for before they were even ordered. With a huge lack of resources I felt like I was just winging it.
My mother passed away on a Sunday. The last time we saw the nurse was on Thursday. She told us try and have a good weekend . She knew my mother was not going to make it until her next visit on Tuesday.
We really could have used more support, care, and guidance throughout this whole experience. The VNA has absolutely NO BUSINESS calling themselves hospice. I expected way more, and my family is traumatized after the suffering that my poor mother had gone through. We were doing everything we could do to keep her comfortable, but we didn t know what we were doing.
Don t let someone you love, and that you are losing go through something like this. It is unforgivable, barbaric, and horrible. Our mother deserved better. We deserved better. Everyone deserves better.

I had a bilateral knee replacement. I ended up in a horrible nursing home, in New Providence. I begged to go home after just 4 days. I was released without medicine or anything to help me in any way. Then came Liz, a visiting nurse. She was so helpful. Since the operation, I finally felt like I had someone who cared about me. Then came Peter, my physical therapist from the VNA. He was the best; always with a positive attitude, a smile, empathy and driven to the success of my rehabilitation. I don't know what I would have done without them. Thank You!