StarLight CareGivers, Inc. — Local services in Los Altos

Our family's need for caregiving was unfortunately only about six weeks, but Starlight really came through for us when we needed them. In our situation we initially needed someone during daytime hours and evening to assist my father as his ability to get around and care for himself became impaired due to illness. He also preferred caregivers who spoke Mandarin Chinese, although English was fine as well. We liked how Starlight started by sending a different caregiver each day for a few days, which my sister and I could see through a scheduling website. They then asking for feedback via a group text message feed shared with their administrative staff, which assisted with narrowing down which were the best fit for him. The text messaging was also handy for schedule change requests, instances where a caregiver arrived after the retirement home front lobby was locked (so we had to meet them ourselves), and other instances where quick responses were needed. I don't recall any time where we waited more than a few minutes for a reply, even at night. When we had a regular schedule, 7 days a week of 12 hours per day, it was typically the same 3 caregivers that came. When I was able to be in town with my father, we reduced hours or skipped days with at least 48 hours notice, which they made easy to do. About 3 weeks after starting, my father's condition declined to needing 24 hour care, and Starlight was able to fill that need within hours. There were a couple of scheduling mixups during our time with Starlight, but they always hurriedly filled the shift as soon as we notified them via group text, and the prior caregiver typically stayed until someone else arrived unless we said it was ok to leave. Nan/Sarah graciously once stayed over an hour later. During the 6 weeks with Starlight we were served by about 10-15 different caregivers, daytime and overnight, in 12-hour shifts. We found them to be caring, adaptive to my father's needs, conscientious, and respectful of my father's condition and dignity. Although of varying experience levels, it seemed just about all of them had past personal experience with pancreatic cancer in their families or clients. One caregiver, Roanne, had even worked at a sister facility as a CNA in their assisted living area. Their willingness to talk to me about their experiences and what to expect really helped me as well. Overall, we are grateful to have found such a responsive and caring company to assist us and provide my father with the care he needed, and I would not hesitate to reach out to Duanni and her team if I, or anyone I cared about, needed...

This review was written 2015 but I wish to re-enter because of the fine care my dad received through StarLight 5. My father was 100+ and still living in his own apartment. Up to May 30, 2015 he was almost fully independent, including cooking his own meals. However, since June he required 24 hour care, while he underwent rehab, relearned to walk, and went to physical and water therapy. Starlight provided 12 hour shifts as well as shorter 4,8 or 10 hour periods when requested. The caregivers provided his personal care, prepared meals and did light housekeeping. They also drove his wheelchair accessible van to shop, get to appointments and make trips out to dinner, visit friends and travel to doctors appointments. Duanni and Angel were exceptionally responsive, almost always attending to my e-mails or phone calls immediately, and making changes in personnel whenever someone did not seem to fit quite so well with my dad. The result was provision of a very strong team for him, with professional back up in place on those occasions when a scheduled caregiver was not available. Starlight's Family Portal was very useful, as it provided each individual caregiver's care notes for their shifts. Also provided was a schedule of who was coming at least a week in advance. This helped put me at ease, as my wife and I live in the Boston area and the web posted schedule combined with phone calls, texts and e-mails from Duanni and Angel kept me in close touch with Starlight on any personnel shift changes, schedule readjustments, or possible medical issues my dad might have had requiring attention beyond what StarLight caregivers are allowed to provide.We received a synopsis and references for any proposed new staff before they began with my dad. Every potential caregiver was independently vetted by my dad and by me.My dad wanted to continue living in his apartment and StarLight deserves our thanks in making that possible. I recommend them highly to other potential clients looking for caregiving from an agency that demonstrates exceptional professional service, responsiveness, warmth and...

Making a decision about which home care agency to hire is incredibly difficult. Our family was managing care at home but it became clear that we needed to bring in healthcare professionals who could flexibly staff to our needs – for daytime shifts or full 24x7 care – and give us honest counsel. After tapping into local elder-care agencies, our geriatrician, and dozens of others' stories in online communities, we created our decision criteria: client-focused relationship-builders (not just sell us and hand off), an ability to engage with us honestly and humbly from day one, a care-team with a “can do” attitude (and expertise to back it up), and excellent online recommendations. And ideally a locally-owned company with roots in our community. The Starlight care team were on the short list of every one we talked to, and they hit it out of the park in all our decision-areas - from initial response, onsite meeting and assessment, and follow-up. And once we agreed to move forward, it was exactly as we had hoped it would be.

Starlight’s CEO (Duanni), along with her care-managers, schedulers and all the caregivers, were all part of ONE team. Shout-out to Angel (our primary care lead), Tom, Leilani, and Vanessa – and all the caregivers who dutifully and passionately took care of our family - as if they were part of it. The team were incredibly responsive and caring: if a question or issue arose, a quick note to the group text got action (day or night, weekday or weekend), and the online portal provided detailed notes from each caregiver’s shift, so valuable when we needed to try new approaches or strategies. They also worked with us to match and tune the caregivers’ personalities to our family’s needs.

We are so grateful for what Starlight has done for our family and give them our highest possible...