Is Hospice Care Right for Your Loved Ones?

A Quick Guide To Hospice Care

It is a common belief in society that life goes full circle. You are born, live your life and then die, to put it quite morbidly, but in between you go full circle. Seniors often regress back to their childhood as they go further and further into old age because they may need the same amount of care in their final days as they did in their very first ones. As a result, the care you can give them, as caregivers and relatives, may no longer be adequate. As they head into their final days, it may be time to make a choice where they will spend those days. A hospice is usually a popular option because of the level of specialist care they offer. This is a quick guide to hospices with a brief overview of the information that you may need to make a decision.

Definition of Hospice Care

According to National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, hospice is considered to be the model for quality, compassionate care for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury.  Hospice care involves a team-oriented approach to expert medical care, spiritual support, pain management, and emotional that tailored to the patient’s wishes and needs. Support is provided to the patient’s loved ones as well.  Many hospice professionals belief that each of individual has the right to die with dignity, and pain-free and families will receive the necessary support to allow individuals to do so.

The hospice staff are highly trained, and are employed for what they can bring to the hospice team in terms of attitude and efficiency. The team of people are there to provide for your needs in supporting your loved one to feel as comfortable as possible.

However, a fear that many care givers and family members have is that their loved one will be going into a hospice before he or she is ready to do so. Yet, if you are even considering hospice then it is most definitely the right time. After all, as the main caregiver, you will have witness the changes that have taken place within your relative over a period of time. It can be so heartbreaking to watch him or her turn into a completely different person as a result of old age and illness. By the time that they have reached the hospice stage, they are no longer the person that you once knew and loved, and the hospice can help you to let go and simply start to grieve.

How does hospice care work?

According to National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, hospice focuses on caring, not curing and in most cases care is provided in the patient’s home. Hospice care also is provided in freestanding hospice centers, hospitals, and nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.  Hospice services are available to patients of any age, religion, race, or illness. Hospice care is covered under Medicare, Medicaid, most private insurance plans, HMOs, and other managed care organizations.

Who is apart of the hospice team?

According to National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, typically, a family member serves as the primary caregiver and, when appropriate, helps make decisions for the terminally ill individual. Members of the hospice staff make regular visits to assess the patient and provide additional care or other services. Hospice staff is on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The hospice team develops a care plan that meets each patient’s individual needs for pain management and symptom control. The team usually consists of:

• The patient’ s personal physician;
• Nurses;
• Social workers;
• Family members
• Home health aides;
• Clergy or other counselors
• Hospice physician (or medical director);
• Trained volunteers; and
• Speech, physical, and occupational therapists, if needed.

What services are provided?

According to National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and Grace Palms some major responsibilities, of the interdisciplinary hospice team are:

• Manages the patient’s pain and symptoms;
• Assists the patient with the emotional and psychosocial and spiritual aspects of dying;
• Provides needed medical direction, drugs, medical supplies, and equipment;
• Provides skilled nursing services;
• Coaches and counsels the family on how to care for the patient;
• Delivers special services like speech and physical therapy when needed;
• Makes short-term inpatient care available when pain or symptoms become too difficult to manage at home, or the caregiver needs respite time;
• Provides bereavement care and counseling to surviving family and friends.

Who Qualifies for Hospice?

According to Grace Palms, hospice can help people with different life-limiting conditions when symptoms no longer respond to curative treatment. Any patient with limited life expectancy whose focus is now on physical, emotional, and spiritual comfort can apply for Hospice care.

When appropriate, patient’s primary physician will authorize start of Hospice care. People with the following illnesses can qualify for hospice care:

• AIDS
• Coma
• Stroke
• Cancer
• Lung Disease
• Kidney Failure
• End-Stage Liver
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Congestive Heart Disease
• Multi-system Breakdown
• Alzheimer’s Disease or Other Dementias
• ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease

The set up of a hospice is designed to allay the fears and unwillingness that a care giver may have to relinquish the controls to a certain extent. It is designed to fully support the family as well as the individual to die with dignity. If you have questions or concerns regarding hospice, you want to have a discussion with the patient’s primary physician to discuss the process.

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Sources:

Grace Palms: http://gracefulpalmshospice.com/What%20is%20Hospice.htm

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization: http://www.nhpco.org/about/hospice-care

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