SARA Companion Homecare Services Inc

I would strongly encourage you not to use Sara Home Companion Services for your homecare needs. We moved my Mom's care (where she requires 24/7 live-in help) to Personal Touch earlier this year and have been very happy with the service thus far. In regards to Sara - on two separate occasions - one of my Mom's live-in aides "abandoned" my 90 year old Mom who has limited mobility and many health related issues - requiring my wife and I to take time off from work to care for her for days until a replacement could be found . The first time was due to a personal matter that the aide needed to attend to and the second time due to sickness. In both cases - the aide indicated to us that she notified Sara well in advance that she needed a replacement and Sara was either unresponsive to those requests or simply unable to find a replacement. What we have found is that Sara does not treat their aides well - do not provide PPE in spite of COVID-19 (family has to pay for masks/gloves), do not pay them well and there is a total lack of communication between aides and coordinator/office staff. As a result - with few exceptions - Sara does not get quality aides and aides openly complain about Sara and their management. In my professional experience - employees that are not treated well by their employer will generally not provide good customer service. In many cases - I felt disgruntled aides would take it out on my Mom - either through lack of care and in some cases being verbally abusive. Background: We signed up with Sara in 2017 - prior to getting my Mom approved for Medicaid (MLTC) - for 24/7 live in help. The aides on Mom's case varied greatly - some very good - and others left a lot to be desired. I reached out to Sara's owner Mr. White who was responsive to my concerns, appreciated my feedback and I believe took some personal interest in my Mom's case. However, when Mom eventually got approved for MLTC later that year - I noticed changes to her level of care. Some of the better aides that Mom liked were pulled off her case and given to what we found out later were moved to private cases whereby Sara could make a lot more money than what Medicaid would pay them. When I voiced concerns with Mom's care - Mr. White no longer would return my calls or emails - Zoe (coordinator) would either avoid my calls or tell me things that I found out later were not true.

SARA was wonderful, they went above and beyond, they are so helpful. I needed 2 different aides, if one of the aides called in there was a replacement, if i did not like an aide, they replaced them. Staffing is wonderful and my sales representative, contacted me to be sure I was satisfied. I would recommend SARA home care agency hands down. Love them.

I was assured by the director that this company specialized with caring for Alzheimer's patients. Unfortunately, when I asked the CNA that was sent by SARA if she had any prior experience with Alzheimer's patients she said no. This was my major concern, and hindsight is 20/20. I should have looked elsewhere but we were in need. However, this particular CNA treated my mother with respect, and I knew she would never harm my mother like others we have had- not from SARAH. I think she could have put a little more effort in caring for my mom however she was extremely protective of my mother. While my mother was in the hospital, there were times I had to have consultations with her physicians but outside of her hospital room; I asked this particular CNA to stay by her side and watch her and monitor her carefully-I used to say with a smile I want you to eagle eye her. She would smile back. Upon returning to the room, I would peak into the room unbeknownst to the CNA and I found her where I left her monitoring. The activities kits for adults that SARA provided for us were a tremendous help. The client services are available 24/7. I should also add, this particular CNA while very physically strong possessed a gentleness and efficient technique when it came to lifting my mother from her bed or from her chair. She never jostled my mother. When we expressed to this particular CNA we were Christians and my mother enjoyed music, she would use her own iphone to play Christian music which my mother really enjoyed. This enhanced the quality of my mother's life.

I don't know if I would even recommend them to anybody else. They were supposed to send someone that had a car and the first person they sent didn't have a reliable car. She took a one-week leave and I think that the other person who came out didn't even have a car. They were friendly and charged about $15 an hour.

Originally I was going to hire the aide for 11 days while I was away, then I decided to have him come here one extra day so I could go over everything with him 24 hours before my departure. Although I chose to pay for an extra day to help the aide to understand all my husband's needs with food and medications2c I feel I should have been re-imbursed for that day due to what actually happened here in my absence. The sales person went over everything with me down to every detail including that I must have the refrigerator and freezer stocked since the aide did not drive, had no car. I took the aide shopping and even had purchased food items for him that my husband was not interested in. I did this to be nice as the aide stated there were things he didn't care for that my husband eats. Upon my return I found that he not only refused to cook the things my husband wanted, but also wasted some of the food I purchased such as perishables like fruit and vegetables which had to be thrown out that were not consumed and either had mold or smelled bad. I found that he used my husband's credit card to have food delivered from local restaurants as he did not wish to prepare the food I had purchased. This happened on three occasions in the 11 days. Each day he was here was warm and sunny and he refused to take my husband out for walks, stating my husband was not steady on his feet though there were two separate wheelchairs. His excuse: he did not know where it was, although I showed him before I left, one was in my husband's bedroom plain as day. ( the other in the trunk of our car, he said my husband did not know where the keys were) I asked him to water my few plants, he said he would, BUT, he could not even do that and I almost lost a very special plant. I was able to save approximately 30% of it. This plant was just beside his bed in our guest room and the 15 to 18 inch leaves were drooping down onto his pillow and he said he didn't realize it needed water. He fed my cats...but one cat was in a room by himself and when I came home he had no water. He chipped my stovetop, broke my microwave... I have no idea how he did that! When I had signed the contract they made me pay for 14 days and promised that I would receive a refund for the two days I didn't use if I came back on the date I originally said. They said it was their customary deposit to collect two weeks up front. It took me over 15 months to get back the money for those two days and that was only after I had outside help to get it back. When I spoke with the person in the office after I came home and explained all this to her, I requested the first day to be reimbursed as I felt the aide did not take any of the directions I gave him which was the only reason I had him there one day early. She called me back and stated that the only thing they could do was give me half back for that day... I never did receive that amount from them. The only money I received was the two days I didn't use and they paid my for phone calls the aide made to another country using my husband's cell phone and two items the aide requested that I purchased for him at the store when we shopped together (personal items that he should have brought with him and that I should not have had to buy for him) Since that time, I have had other people here to care for my husband and never had the horrible problems I had using Sara Companions. I only wish I had know of the other agencies before I hired Sara Companions as their rates were a fraction of what I paid Sara Companions. All in all, I cannot say much in the way of a good review for them. I only just joined Angie's list and when I saw that they were already reviewed here, I decided to review them myself.

It went well they cooked her dinner and took her shopping etc

Ask me the right question and I would give you pertinent ANSWERS.

What I liked was one of the aides that they sent. What I didn't like was that they never checked to see if the girls came on time and left on time.
When I booked them they said they would call me. They never called to see how things were
working out and that really turned me off.
I don't like people sitting on top of me and I don't like people sitting at looking at me. I told them to sit in the den and when I needed them I would call. That was OK but one of the girls was on her phone from the minute she came in until the minute she left. I didn't report her but I did call the agency to ask why they didn't have them check in to make sure they were here. I know they did put that down but he next day the girl came a half hour late so apparently no one spoke to her.
They were the cheapest at $19.00 an hour and they had cars. Some of the agencies were more and didn't have cars. If you are sick and need to have medicine picked up or whatever, I liked the fact they had cars. One of the girls was great and was always there early but one was just not mature.
I never had a problem with them not showing up.

They were very nice and they've always been on time. I would continue to use them again in the future.