Gentiva Health Svc

Pros

• Vilma Rozen provided excellent care and very professional service to the mother.
• The nurses cared for the father as if he were their own, with Harry and Graysha offering care, advice, and expertise, and Denise delivering respectful and compassionate personal care.
• Lizette went above and beyond, ensuring supplies and caregiving training were provided in a timely manner.
• Victoria delivered clear guidance during a scare and arranged medications to help the family prepare.
• Amy checked vitals and provided care on the day the father passed.
• Maria Alvarez, RN, was a pillar of strength and comfort for the family.
• Yurima Galiano and Yunia Galiano, CNAs, provided dedicated, compassionate care.
• Chaplain Andres offered spiritual guidance and emotional support.
• The on-call nursing team, including Lianis and Lilibeth, responded with professionalism and urgency.
• The Gentiva Hospice team was described as compassionate, supportive, and deeply dedicated to the family's dignity and peace.

Cons

• They describe a breakdown of communication and executive-level management failures at Gentiva, calling them epic in size.
• They claim the Orlando/Winter Garden branch is overworked and understaffed, with a total lack of communication and professionalism regarding important paperwork like care plans and medications.
• They state the branch did not answer the 24-hour phone line or speak to the family, despite attempts to raise concerns through the initial representative.
• They say there was a failure to provide a care plan within 72 hours, prompting them to terminate Gentiva's service and switch to another hospice provider.
• They accuse corporate Gentiva of not contacting them after forwarding concerns to executive management, indicating a top-to-bottom failure.

Review

Hospice care under Gentiva has offered a wide spectrum of experiences, from deeply meaningful compassion to challenging administrative gaps. Across the many stories, the common thread is that the people who show up at a loved one's side can profoundly shape the end-of-life journey. In several accounts, dedicated nurses and caregivers brought comfort, dignity, and practical support at a time when families were navigating unfamiliar territory. In others, families confronted breakdowns in communication and management that intensified stress during already difficult moments. Taken together, the reflections reveal both the extraordinary humanity of individual caregivers and the crucial need for reliable, well-coordinated systems behind the scenes.

Among the most heartfelt tributes are those to specific bedside professionals who treated a loved one as a person first and a patient second. Vilma Rozen, a nurse, is described as exceptionally professional, humane, and intensely committed - "100 percent in her work and humanitarian work." Other nurses and aides are remembered with similar warmth: Harry and Graysha, RNs who offered care, guidance, and expertise; Denise, who delivered respectful and compassionate personal care. Families recounted that these clinicians communicated clearly, explained what was happening, and helped families feel seen and supported during fragile moments. The sense of relief that comes from feeling understood and well cared for is a powerful through-line in these stories.

There are also numerous moments that illustrate the positive, practical side of Gentiva's service. The initial caregivers - the representative, the CNA, and the weekend RN - are praised for their professionalism and reliability, and the agency provided a caregiver handbook that laid out what families could expect, including how to be a caregiver, symptom checklists, end-of-life guidance, and grief support. In the final days, families note that the team offered candid, straightforward conversations about care plans and options, avoiding vague assurances and helping families prepare for what lay ahead. A key takeaway from these accounts is that, when everything works as intended, Gentiva can deliver compassionate, clear, and timely end-of-life support that helps families keep their loved ones comfortable and at home.

Yet the narratives are not without critical and cautionary notes. A recurring theme centers on communication failures and executive-level management gaps in a particular branch in the Orlando/Winter Garden area. Families described a breakdown of communication, chronic understaffing, and a lack of responsiveness to important paperwork such as care plans and prescribed medications. The tale highlights a stark contrast: an initial line of care that felt promising, followed by a collapse in coordination that left families feeling overlooked and left to advocate forcefully for themselves. The reviewer who shared many of these concerns attempted to address issues with the initial representative and ultimately terminated Gentiva services to pursue a different hospice provider, noting that a thorough, top-to-bottom review of branch operations was warranted. In their view, the failures were "epic" at the executive level and had tangible consequences for patient care and family trust.

Despite the difficulties described, the experiences also emphasize the realities of home hospice life - the hours, the hands-on labor, and the need for families to serve as primary caregivers for long stretches. For those new to hospice, the letter-writers offer a practical portrait: expect nurse visits that may be daily or less frequent depending on the patient's stage, anticipate the need to manage caregiving logistics, and prepare for the physical demands of transfers, hygiene, and daily routines. The guidance underscores that this work is demanding and requires resilience, strength, and a willingness to learn. The accounts also remind families that hospice services extend beyond medical care, including training, supplies, medication coordination, dietary considerations, and emotional and spiritual support for both patients and their loved ones.

Within this broad landscape of care and coordination, certain team members stand out for their late-stage impact. Lizette is remembered for stepping in to help with hygiene when the primary caregiver, an elderly mother, faced physical strain, ensuring that supplies and training were secured in a timely manner. Victoria arrived during a scare and helped order medications that could ease the patient's passing, articulating what to expect and how to prepare emotionally. Amy's visits on the day of death - once to check vitals in the morning and again after the passing - underscore the ongoing clinical presence that can provide reassurance even at the end. A 24-hour hotline is highlighted as a critical resource, offering round-the-clock support when regular staff schedules do not cover urgent needs.

In a separate but equally meaningful note, a letter from Daniel Rivera Perez offers a complementary, strongly affirmative perspective on Gentiva. He praises Maria Alvarez, an RN, for her clinical knowledge, steady presence, and compassionate care, describing her as a pillar of strength who treated his father with dignity and respect. Yurima and Yunia Galiano, CNAs, and Chaplain Andres are also singled out for their spiritual guidance, emotional support, and practical compassion. The on-call nursing team - including Lianis and Lilibeth - receiving praise for their responsiveness and professional, compassionate care in urgent moments, particularly during the night, reinforces the sense that Gentiva's personal touch can be enduring and profound. Perez closes with a heartfelt recommendation, asserting that Gentiva Hospice and this remarkable team helped his family honor his father's life and find peace in the final chapter.

Taken together, these reviews paint a nuanced portrait of Gentiva Hospice: a service capable of delivering extraordinary, life-affirming care through dedicated professionals who treat patients and families with kindness, clarity, and respect; yet also a service where system-level gaps - especially in communications and staffing - can undermine even the best intentions. The stories underscore the essential importance of consistent, transparent care plans, reliable access to clinicians and hotlines, and strong coordination between the hospice, the family, and the care facilities involved. For families navigating end-of-life decision-making, the narratives offer both a testament to the profound difference compassionate, skilled caregivers can make and a caution to scrutinize branch-level performance, advocate for timely care, and seek a team that aligns with the patient's and family's needs at every step. In the best moments, Gentiva Hospice is described as a source of comfort, clarity, and humanity - an experience many families will carry with them as they remember their loved ones and the care that surrounded them in their final days.

Restaurants

• Mr. Z's (0.1 miles)
• Deviant Wolfe Brewing (0.1 miles)
• McDonald's (0.2 miles)
• Hollerbach's Willow Tree Cafe (0.2 miles)
• Celery City Craft (0.3 miles)
• St Johns River Steak & Seafood (0.4 miles)
• George's Tavern (0.6 miles)

Parks

• Fort Mellon Park (0.6 miles)
• Mariner's Cove Park (3.6 miles)
• Sunland Park (4.4 miles)
• Bill Keller Park (4.8 miles)
• Campbell Park (6.6 miles)

Physicians

• Central Florida Regional Hospital (0.8 miles)
• Center for Dermatology & Skin Surgery (2.8 miles)
• Central Florida Family Health Center (3.7 miles)
• Team Health (4 miles)
• Annabell Torres (4 miles)
• Nemours Children's Urgent Care (4 miles)
• Colleen L. McLeod, MD (4.4 miles)

Pharmacies

• Winn-Dixie (1 miles)
• Walgreens (1.8 miles)
• CVS Pharmacy (3.7 miles)
• CVS Pharmacy (3.9 miles)
• Walgreens (4 miles)
• CVS Pharmacy (5.1 miles)
• Florida Health Care Pharmacy (5.3 miles)

Transportation

• Sanford Sunrail Station Sanford (1.7 miles)
• Deltona Executive Airport (2.9 miles)
• Orlando Sanford International Airport (3 miles)
• Debary Sunrail Station (4.3 miles)

Places of Worship

• Central Baptist Church (2 miles)
• Identity Church (4.9 miles)

Cafes

• Starbucks (3.9 miles)
• Starbucks (5.8 miles)
• Starbucks (6.3 miles)
• Starbucks (6.9 miles)

Hospitals

• Florida Hospital Lake Mary ER (5.1 miles)