When do you consider hospice services?
While only those with a life expectancy of six months or less is eligible, the best time to call is soon after a terminal diagnosis is made by the patient’s private physician or specialist. Hospice staff can answer questions and help you to understand what lies ahead and when you would be eligible for hospice as well as offering other options for care that you may not have considered. At all times the patient and family wishes and choices are taken into consideration.
Hospice staff can answer questions and bring patients and families peace of mind. While it is never too early to contact us, all too often people wait until it is too late for us to make a real difference – hospice is there to help patients to LIVE through their final months, so the sooner you contact us the better for the patient and their loved ones and caregivers. A common statement that we receive on our Patient Satisfaction Surveys from family following the death of a loved one is, “We wish we had called sooner.”
A patient with a prognosis of 6 months or less is eligible for hospice services, though care may continue beyond that time. There is no “magic” figure but a timely admission allows hospice to work with the patient and family for several months before death. This normally results in more successful pain management, greater conflict resolution and preparation for death, and a higher level of long term well being for survivors.
Eligibility varies by individual, the illness they are living with and many other factors. In general, if treatment no longer works or is no longer desired, or significant decline in status has occurred, then you should call the hospice office nearest you to discuss the options available to you.
Hospice is specialized care that meets the needs and desires of people living with terminal illness and those who care for them.
Hospice provides the information, expertise and added care needed to have the highest quality of life possible. It is meant to allow someone to live as fully and comfortably as possible every day. Hospice care focuses not only on the person who is living with the illness but also on their family – however they define it – and provides support that continues through the illness and after. Hospice is not about dying, it’s about how you live – in comfort and with dignity.
Patients are asked to articulate their desires and needs and to participate in choices about their care giving them back control. With the hospice emphasis on pain control management patients are given comfort so they may enjoy the time they have with those they love. Whenever possible, care is given in the location where the patient feels most comfortable, most often in the familiar surroundings of their home. Hospice staff provides the medical, spiritual, emotional and practical support to allow the patient to live their lives to the fullest.
Hospice care includes visits, assessment, planning and teaching by nurses, social workers, chaplains, aides, support volunteers and others. It also provides needed medications, equipment, supplies and materials related to the hospice illness and needed to address or prevent symptoms or discomfort.
Hospice is community based, compassionate end-of-life care which is a gift to those on their final journey.
Hospice Services Myths
Choosing hospice does not mean a death sentence. What hospice does mean is a total change of focus. It means the person is in control: making choices about what is most important in his or her life. Hospice philosophy emphasizes the creative and positive outcomes to be realized by defining and achieving personal goals and by living life as fully as possible.
It is not uncommon for people entering hospice care to experience an improved sense of well being and comfort. This sometimes happens because pain management and symptom control issues are openly discussed and effectively resolved. Sometimes, this sense of well-being is a reflection of the person’s sense of control gained from defining her/his goals and from active participation in developing the plan of care.
Living with end-stage disease and dying well takes work. Hospice workers handle that job very well and help people in hospice and their families to have some of the most memorable moments of their lives.
Every hospice experience is unique, but one key thing families tell us about hospice is that “we wish we had known about hospice sooner”. Hospice team members also know that having more time to work with a person and family means better quality of life. Because the goal of hospice is to achieve the highest quality of life possible, some people may actually live longer than expected without the burden of symptoms and aggressive care.
People on hospice care and their families receive care for an unlimited amount of time, depending upon the course of the illness. There is no fixed limit on the amount of time a person may continue to receive hospice services.
Hospice isn’t really about dying. Hospice is about living as well as one can every day we have. It is about adding life, quality of life, to someone’s final days, weeks or months. Hospice is a program of services available to the person and her/his loved ones where ever they may be. Most hospice care takes place where the person already lives: in their own home or a family member’s, a nursing home, or an assisted living facility.
Hospice is care designed for people living with a life-limiting illness. There is so much more that can be done to assist individuals and families in living their lives fully, completely, and without pain until the end of their lives.
More than 50% of people on hospice are diagnosed with conditions other than cancer. Anyone with a life-limiting illness can receive hospice care. Heart disease, kidney disease, COPD and dementia are a few of the illnesses that can benefit from hospice services.
This is an individual/family choice. A person can certainly choose to be resuscitated. The hospice will generally not provide this type of care, but will explain what you need to do to access such services. The hospice team will provide information that might be useful in making such decisions.
In the past, some hospices required a primary care giver because the hospice cannot provide 24 hour care except in crisis situations. Most hospices do not require this any longer. The hospice will ask you to make a plan for what will happen when you need round the clock care.
Family members and friends are encouraged, supported, and trained by hospice professionals to care for their loved ones. Hospice staff is on call to the individual and their families 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to help family and friends care for their loved ones.
QUESTIONS OR EMERGENCIES – AFTER HOURS CARE – HOW TO REACH US
Always call High Peaks Hospice & Palliative Care first if you have a concern. An on-call nurse is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to answer your questions and to visit if necessary. The nurse is skilled in handling many situations so that hospitalization may not be a necessary.
Remember, calling an ambulance or going to an emergency room might result in unnecessary procedures on the patient. Decisions about possible hospitalization and its’ goal should be made in conjunction with the patient and family, hospice nurses and physicians.
The same number you call during regular office hours will put you in contact with the answering service after hours.