Hospice Care

Hospice care is a compassionate method of caring for terminally ill people. Hospice is a medically directed, interdisciplinary team-managed program of services that focuses on the patient/family as the unit of care. Hospice care is palliative rather than curative, with an emphasis on pain and symptom control, so that a person may live the last days of life fully, with dignity and comfort, at home or in a home-like setting. It provides dignity and respect to the individuals in its program. It is offered to those who have a chronic and terminal illness or diagnosis and are in the final stages of their life. Hospice care is not intended for those whose prognosis is good or those who are still benefitting from medical intervention and treatment. However, many people don't consider hospice as early as it could be provided. They mistakenly believe receiving hospice means one's given up and has no hope. This is far from the truth, as hospice is there to simply provide a pain-free, comfortable high quality of life to those who otherwise might be in extreme pain, isolation and misery. Hospice care provides family-centered, compassionate and skilled treatment to people wanting to enjoy their life, not waste it.

Because hospice is built on the foundation that death is the final stage in life, its philosophy is to aid patients live out their lives in an alert, comfortable, and pain-free way. Unlike other medical interventions, hospice puts the person first and their disease last. Care is determined according to wishes of the patient and his family. The focus progresses from fighting a lost battle with a terminal illness to finding the best quality of life possible until death. Hospice care is often available around the clock, 7 days a week; whether the patient is in his own home, a hospital, nursing home or private care facility. And regardless of where the patient receives the care, family members are encouraged to actively participate in the care and well-being of their loved one.

Though hospice care is appropriate when medical interventions are no longer beneficial and the patient's life expectancy is 6 months or less, many people wait until they have suffered through weeks and months of pain and misery. Because they don't want to admit defeat or realize the fate of death, the average time of people receiving hospice is only 14-20 days.

With care aimed at relieving disease symptoms while providing social, emotional and spiritual support, an interdisciplinary team manages the hospice care. The team, providing support and relief, may include doctors, nurses, social workers, home health aides, clergy, volunteers, friends and family. The patient will be surrounded by people they love and others who have their best interests at heart.

While in hospice care pain is treated, as well as the side-effects of the disease and medicine. The patient will be alert and comfortable; still able to appreciate and enjoy life, make important decisions and interact with those around them. Everyone involved will receive spiritual support custom to individual needs, education on the process of death and grieving, respite care if needed and family conferences. The patient will be supported through each day, cared for in a nurturing, life-celebrating manner, and treated as they were when they had perfect health.

If someone is living with a terminal illness that no longer responds to medical interventions and the life expectancy is 6 months or less, this is a good time to consider hospice care. Not only will they learn how to manage the grief and fear death brings, they'll get support throughout the process, education on ways to cope and relief from debilitating symptoms that can be so limiting. Let hospice care help.