Home Instead

Reviews

• AO

  April Oviatt

  Nov 12, 2025
  5.0
  This is the absolute best in-home care company in the area! The staff that take care of my grandparents are phenomenal and truly care! The management team are responsive, professional, and always follow up with me when I have questions.
• MJ

  Maili Levay Jonas

  Dec 28, 2023
  5.0
  Home Instead has been essential for my family when my grandparents had a health scare, and I lived off-island. They were professional and communicative during the days that it took for me to get back to Oahu. All the staff were lovely and very experienced at handling emotional situations. They even helped keep me calm on the phone when I couldn’t be there right away. I will always recommend them.
• BV

  Brad Valdez

  Sep 6, 2022
  1.0
  Had a consultation, home visit, and interview with Karen. This was for in home care for my elderly mother who is a very difficult person to deal with. Karen agreed to show up with a home health assistant to help care for my mom. We agreed on hours, the price, and the time she would come. No one showed up, no phone call, doesn't answer the phone. Unprofessional to say the least. You can't count on this business to do what they agree to.
• BC

  B CM

  Jan 17, 2020
  4.0
  After working with 4 different care agencies over the past few years my overall assessment is that Home Instead is one of the better agencies on the island, with a few caveats. Paul is the owner and though he lives in California he has been involved and available always from day one, and hires great people to run this operation. Ty and Ande especially we have found to be nearly always responsive and organized, often going above and beyond. Many agencies only have one contact person, Home Instead provides a team, so that you are never left hanging. You want foremost to know you can count on the staff in charge to make sure the needs of your loved one are addressed and that the care plan and any important changes are clearly and quickly communicated to caregivers. AND of course that they have a deep enough bench of qualified caregivers (Most agencies do not!) Overall the people they have sent to care for my Mom have been wonderful and the staff always professional. Now the caveats: 1. NO DIRECT CAREGIVER COMMUNICATION: The downside of working with agencies is that most will NOT allow you to communicate directly with your loved ones caregiver, except while they are physically on the premises working, on your phone, not their cell. Need to get an urgent message to a caregiver? Or send a photo, text or document by cell? Good luck. All has to go via staff. And when that second hand relay doesn't work it can be just a hassle or hazardous i.e. surgery cancelled because caregiver didn't get message that mom not supposed to eat tomorrow morning. (almost happened with another agency) 2. REPORTING: Want to hear how your LO's day went, if they fell, were upset by something, agitated, hurt? Caregivers keep a log of what happened during their shift, which is helpful for the next caregiver arriving, but if you aren't regularly at your loved ones house to review it, or live elsewhere, the log is useless as a reporting device for family. There is an online "portal" where caregivers check off tasks performed. But it is pretty rudimentary. Staff came up with a workaround for us, allowing us to create our own checklist but still not as good as getting a phone call post shift to just say- "hey, Mom was really depressed today" Or "the bank called and needs her signature on an important document", Or "Mom may have just given $10,000 away over the phone" (Yes, this happened. Thankfully when her private caregiver was there who texted us ASAP to alert us) 3. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE WITH KAT TRILLES: Most of Home Instead's caregivers have been great but Kat was a nightmare. Want to be regularly lectured about how it's YOUR JOB to take care of your own mother? Or alternately be told to stop meddling, "chill out" when you bring up an important task she overlooked (i,e. Mom's hearing aids again not turned on so she could not hear all day)? Don’t mind if Kat shrugs and says “oh well, sorry”, when you watch your Mom’s fitness trainer arrive and your Mom walk out in just her bra because Kat failed to help her get dressed? Then you'll do great with Kat. She refused to work as part of a team with our other caregivers. Had a car, but she didn't like the hassle of having to walk to get her car to take mom places so we ended up having to cancel all appointments during Kat's a.m. hours, and shift those to her afternoon caregivers. She was diligent about laundry and dishes, but passive about most other things. Anything we asked her to do- make sure mom is drinking enough water, taking a shower, going for a walk, etc she would just roll her eyes and say, “can’t make her do stuff”. She seemed more comfortable acting as maid more than companion. She did have a nice sense of humor with Mom, which Mom enjoyed, but she's probably best with a mostly nonverbal client who just needs to be cleaned up after and fed, and with a family who are happy to let her run her own show without any input.

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