BRIDGE HOME HEALTH

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Andrew Pereira

Expect nothing beyond the bare minimum from Bridge . . . and, if you're lucky, that would only occur sporadically. I tried helping a friend with his Bridge "services" when he returned home after rectal cancer surgery and treatment a year ago. He is a senior shut-in with very few resources, ongoing health support needs, including a monthly catheter change, colostomy, PT, and social worker support for advocacy and assistance to access critical community resources, supplies, transportation, IHSS, additional health services, etc. A Bridge social worker met once with my friend and me when my friend's in-home "service" with Bridge began. She assured us that she would help with these needs. We never saw or heard from her again. After a few months of no follow-up, we called several times to inquire where she was and how we could speak to her. On a rare occasion when someone actually answered the phone (and then did not take a message for someone else who never responded), they said the social worker had left their agency and another one would be assigned to the case. When that didn't happen, more calls went unanswered and unreturned and prompted no action, contact or assistance from Bridge. Monthly catheter maintenance had taken place for one year and then stopped without any notice. Catheters that go unchanged lead to life-threatening infections. A week had passed when a nurse should have visited to perform this critical task. My friend, stressed and concerned, called Bridge and was then informed he no longer had Bridge "services." His doctor did not reauthorize the service, they said, even though he still needed and used a catheter. Neither the doctor nor Bridge ever contacted my friend to inform him of this sudden loss of a critical support. It seemed pretty negligent to me and it seemed like the negligence was shared. I called Bridge, when I learned of this, and said I'd pay privately for an emergency visit allowing us one month to straighten things out with his doctor and restart the service. I was told they did not accept private payments. I asked why? They said because that was their "policy." I asked if they could explain to me the reasons they had for not accepting private pay. They said, again, because they "had a policy of no private pay." I said I’d pay double. Again, they said they had a policy. When I asked if this was a written policy and could they read it to me over the phone or email it to me, I was then told that they could not discuss my friend's care with me without his consent (although they had been doing just that for the previous 10 minutes and, clearly, any discussion of a possibly phantom policy was not discussing someone’s health care. Whatever. I saw I was getting nowhere). I informed Bridge that I was away and out of town for a family funeral and could not provide my friend transportation to a doctor, a nurse, or a health care clinic to perform the procedure. They suggested he call an ambulance to take him to a hospital. I called local clinics to see if they could change my friend's catheter as a walk-in patient. When one said that they could, I called around to several of my friends until I found one available to take him the next morning. I question if Bridge actually does have a written policy prohibiting private pay rather than a practice of not accepting it for some administrative inconvenience they disdain. Policies can be overridden or suspended by private companies for specific circumstances and emergencies. Needless to say, Bridge will no longer have a patient they have found inconvenient.

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Cristian Moreno

Had my mom set for physical therapy not only did she get better, but the level of care they demonstrated went beyond our expectations. Bridge the best nurses.

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Christina Yanez

They are not a good company. They don't show up when they are supposed to. They don't call o check on patients. I don't recommend bridge for nursing care. I'm not a happy patient with their care.😥 This company is the worst home health agency I've been with!

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Monique Jimenez

No written review provided