ParaMed - Calgary, Alberta

aladrieth

Absolute garbage company. Tried them through the self-directed program and regretted it within a couple days but was forced to stick with them for a hellish month before being moved back to CBI. The actual caregivers were no better or worse than other companies, but the office staff are downright malicious.

I'm used to companies in this industry putting profit first by hiring incompetent office staff, but Paramed is so much worse than that. I could hear the delight in the voices of the schedulers and managers when they refused to fill my requests for things CBI had provided without issue. They wouldn't even guarantee a woman for my bathing visits, and I'm a 30-something woman in a very vulnerable state due to disability. Hell, they even refused things they were contractually obligated to do, like schedule visits within 1 hour of my requested time. Some visits they flat-out refused to fill at all!

There were a couple things I managed to get them to concede to (as if they were doing me some great favour by doing their jobs). But then, week after week for the entire time I was with them, they would "forget" or "not communicate" the things they agreed to. Didn't matter how many schedulers, supervisors, or managers I talked to.

Even after I managed to get away from Paramed, they continued to try to screw me over. They sent a bill to Blue Cross, as they were supposed to, but also sent an even larger bill to me personally! When I confronted them about it, they eventually admitted that double-billing for their services was a mistake. But I don't believe for a second that these a-holes didn't do it deliberately and to many other, less mentally capable, customers.

In summary: stay away! I've yet to find a home care company in Calgary that I would actually recommend to a loved one, but literally anyone is better than Paramed.

Nat S.

Where do I even begin with this utterly infuriating excuse for a home care service? Let’s start with their complete disregard for punctuality. It’s as if they have their own clock that operates on a different timezone, showing up whenever it suits them, not when they’re scheduled to be here. This inconsistency has caused endless frustration and inconvenience.
But punctuality is just the tip of the iceberg. The staff they employ are not only rude but shockingly uneducated. It’s baffling how they were even hired in the first place. Instead of focusing on their responsibilities, they’re more interested in burying their noses in their phones, oblivious to their surroundings. It’s infuriating to think that people working in healthcare can be this careless and irresponsible about their clients.
Their reliability is non-existent. I’ve lost count of the number of times they’ve parked in the driveway, idly wasting time in their cars instead of actually coming inside to do their jobs. It’s as if they think they’re being paid to lounge around rather than provide the care they’re contracted for.
And let’s not even get started on how nosy they are. They seem to think it’s their business to pry into every aspect of our lives, asking intrusive and inappropriate questions without any regard for boundaries. It’s beyond frustrating!
To make matters worse, they seem to have no idea about protocols for health and safety. While some of them wear masks and gloves, others waltz in without any protection whatsoever, despite being repeatedly informed that we have elderly individuals in the house who are at risk. They don’t wash their hands, they don’t change their gloves between clients, even tho we called the office telling them about this and they continue not doing it correctly.
It’s a blatant disregard for basic safety measures and it’s not ok.
What’s more, when confronted about their negligence, they have the audacity to beg not to be reported to the office. It’s clear they know they’re failing miserably at their jobs but lack the decency to rectify their behavior. I am absolutely livid!
In short, this home care service is an absolute disaster, and as a nurse myself I am beyond disappointed of these people and their supervisors.
Save yourself the headache and look elsewhere for competent and compassionate care. They’re an absolute JOKE.

Maryna B.

Our lady is one the phone most of the time she is here , like actual phone calls. We don’t mind her using her phone for texting or reading something but talking on the phone for 3 hours straight in front of your patient who is trying to watch/ listen to the TV is RUDE and DISRESPECTFUL. We have had so many issues with them on a daily basis . They just lack common sense in general. The supervisor won’t listen to you, keeps interrupting when you try to raise your concerns.
Thanks Alberta Health Services for making the lives of vulnerable patients and their families MISERABLE. There are many great companies out there but yet you decide to team up with THIS disaster company.

Marita B.

This company is very shady, unprofessional and unreliable. AHS needs to find a different company and stop their contract with Paramed. We caught one caregiver taking a nap (frequently, not a one off) while my mother was in her care. This same caregiver was also on her cellphone most of the time either texting or on personal calls on a consistent basis. The supervisor kept brushing it off whenever my dad would call to voice his concerns. We caught another caregiver on her phone as well. Multiple times the caregivers wouldn’t come at their scheduled time and would also leave early. So that meant my mother’s caregiver spent maybe 45 min with her as opposed to the 2 hour scheduled time.

The company is also painfully disorganized and have terrible communication skills.

The final straw was a couple weeks ago when they called me to “verify whether or not my mother was actually in the hospital”. My mother died that very day.
This company lacks compassion, tact, etiquette and empathy. They don’t even deserve 1 star.

Lori M.

We had them come in when my mom was pallaitive. THEY ARE THE WORST!!! We had to get up and give injections and toilet because the nurses were sleeping. This was an awake position. They did nothing all day but watch tv and play on their phones.
Only one nurse bathed my mom.

They left her chart here and never picked it up.

I called to complain but they never answer the phone.

AHS makes a lot of bad choices and this is one for sure. I would not use this company as it results in more work for yourself.

Bev R.

Inconsistent! Unreliable! Unprofessional. They give more stress than care.

Nooraisha K.

If I could give 0 stars I would! AHS should drop this company ASAP. The staff are rude, they talk over you, they refuse to be helpful in anyway. They send new caregivers every day which means my grandmother has to spend valuable time explaining what needs to be done and then is left with 15-20 minutes of actual care. My grandmother, as all people in general, requires consistency of care. Half the time the staff are late and it's because the coordinators change their schedule willy nilly. We requested a 9am start time and the other day someone showed up at 7:45AM! This woke up everyone in the house and my grandmothers entire schedule was completely thrown off. She takes several medications for a highly progressive form of Parkinson's and now she has to deal with this garbage? Today the caregiver showed up at 1030 and I had to take time off work to help my grandmother this morning because no one was here. Thank God I work from home during the pandemic otherwise she'd be sitting in her own urine for HOURS. GARBAGE COMPANY. If you get assigned to them, LEAVE. We're now moving to a self managed care option, which payment and paperwork wise is more work for us but at least my grandmother will ACTUALLY be taken care of.

Lori D.

Scheduler is very bad in communicating with people. Requested her to get supervisor to call (never called) several concerns many times that one homecare did not want to wear gloves and another that had very bad body odor no hellos or good bye and no compassion what so ever. Would not recommend this agency to anyone. They are aweful.