Hospice care is a special form of care for people with life-limiting illnesses. When medical treatments can no longer cure a disease, our team of hospice professionals can do a great deal to control pain, reduce anxiety and offer needed spiritual and emotional support to patients and their families. Our hospice care services are coordinated with the patient’s physician and provided during regularly scheduled visits by hospice care team members to manage the patient’s care. If a crisis should arise, we are able to respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
We provide hospice care services wherever people with life-limiting illness reside and could benefit from our care, including:
Providing care for terminally ill family members and friends is exhausting, both emotionally and physically. There may come a time during the course of your family member’s illness that you as a caregiver need some time away from the tasks of care giving. Caregiver stress can lead to physical and emotional distress that can interfere with your ability to provide care. We partner with many hospice organizations to provide respite care stays. Respite care programs are designed to provide temporary, short-term (usually, five days or less) assistance in caring for hospice patients. It is intended to allow the caregivers, often the family members, to take some time away from the hospice patient, to allow them to emotionally recharge and become better prepared to handle the normal day-to-day challenges of caring for someone with a chronic life-threatening illness.
Routine home care is the most common level of hospice care. Routine home care includes, but is not limited to, nursing and home health aide services. Patients may receive routine hospice care in their home, a long-term care facility or an assisted living facility.
The practice of offering around-the-clock hospice care at home is known as “continuous care.” When medically appropriate, hospice team members work in shifts of up to 24 hours for brief periods to help patients remain at home through a difficult time, rather than be admitted to a hospital. This intensive level of care is appropriate when a patient is having acute symptoms that can’t be managed by the primary caregiver, such as:
