Care Initiatives Hospice

I’ve loved working with this team! Everything they do is patient-driven, from beginning to end.

I started with Care initiatives Hospice of West Des Moines in June of 2022. So far it has been a wonderful experience! As a Nurse and case manager they made sure I had proper training before sending me out with my own caseload. My coworkers are awesome and help me with anything I need. They really work as a team and they do not micromanage you as I had experienced with another company in the area. They trust your judgement as well as help you along the way with whatever you need. They give you work/life balance which as a nurse is very much appreciated. They all work hard as a team to give the best care to patients and families in the most difficult time of their lives. Awesome team, wonderful care, and great company! I am very happy here!

My father-in-law's end-of-life care was handled by Care Initiatives from March-July of 2018. My husband and brothers-in-law made the choice, but asked me my professional opinion of their choice based on my LTC experience before confirming with the nursing home. I couldn't have agreed more with their decision! I made a phone call to Kristi Crane at the West Des Moines office to let her know she'd be getting a referral for dad. She shared very heartfelt words of comfort, having known me for several years as professionals and then as friends. She called me the next morning to let me know, "I'm on my way to Baxter. " to meet with dad and the nursing home.

We were all exceptionally grateful for the care provided not only for dad, but for all of us. As the caregivers got to know more about the family dynamics (believe me - there are a variety of strong personalities here, myself included!), they adapted their approaches to personalize interactions based on the personality of the family member involved. My husband and my younger brother-in-law are very matter-of-fact and pragmatic, the middle brother is more on the emotional side. They had the utmost respect for Aunt Nancy in her role as dad's only remaining sibling, our matriarch and our "rock" throughout dad's decline and passing. And, they were very appreciative & respectful of my mother-in-law's presence. She stood by her sons' and their younger brother - caring for dad as well, despite having been divorced from dad for nearly 40 years. (She's just that kind of awesome!)

I know we would have been in good hands with a number of Central Iowa's phenomenal hospice providers, but Care Initiatives was absolutely the right choice for my husband, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, Aunt Nancy, as well as all of the extended Butler clan of relatives & friends. Thank you just aren't words enough.but, thank you all, from all of us.

Had a very unpleasant experience working here as a hospice aide. The team director and the charge nurse I worked with were very demeaning and went out of their way to make sure that you knew you didn't have a say in any patient care, planning, or helping with what the patient needed. Whether it be physical or emotional. It was very disheartening as I like to advocate for my patients and what they need. To make it worse, COVID-19 hit and we had hardly any patients, so to make ends meet I had to pick up in a facility and struggle to get the hours that I needed to sustain myself. After I asked about getting assistance, the team director avoided my questions for partial unemployment. It then became my intention to not longer work for Care Hospice Albia. That caused me to have to use up most of my vacation and sick pay from my previous position with care, not using the hours for a break that was very much needed.

Care Initiatives Hospice and their staff were so very essential to all of my family during the final days of my sister's life. They were so comforting to our family, and took such professional and loving care of my sister. We are so thankful for their efforts to care, support and advocate for her comfort. They all went out of their way to ensure that all her needs and comforts were met. Having them there for her and for all her family gave us peace of mind and the ability to focus on making her last days as comforting and loving an experience as possible. The staff were so supportive to our family and helped us to process the impending loss of our beloved sister, wife, mother, grandmother and friend. I highly recommend them to any and all who have a family member in need of this end of life care. We had an incredible experience and I can't thank them enough. Carol Walls and the family of Julia Ray.

It’s obviously difficult and scary to think about a loved one’s time coming to an end, but for my family, it came down to the comfortability and helping my grandma feel loved in her final days. I didn’t know a lot about hospice until this point and that made me really nervous, but we had someone by our side from Care Initiatives through every step. They were very knowledgeable and answered every question with compassion. My family never felt alone, and I think it takes quality people to achieve that. I couldn’t have asked for better people to have at our side.

Care Initiatives Hospice and their staff were incredibly comforting to our family, and took remarkable care of my mother during the final months of her battle with ALS. We are so thankful for their support and advocacy for her comfort. They took the time to help her with quality of life projects that were important to her, and an incredible surprise and treasure for her family. They went above and beyond to ensure that we created lasting memories that we would all cherish. It takes special people to be able to interact with families anticipating the loss of a loved one, all while focusing on the transition of the loved one to their new home.
I recently recommended them to my mother-in-law for a family member. They also had an incredible experience.

I worked for this organization and gave them many years. The last one was terrible with this job becoming your life. Work home balance was virtually nil and caseloads were overwhelming. They seem to only care about the money and are very secretive and not truthful.