Hospice is not a place or an institution that you go to. It is a philosophy of care which addresses the needs of families and caregivers when traditional and aggressive treatments are no longer safe or beneficial for a loved one.
Hospice Care is sometimes referred to as Comfort Care or Palliative Care. This type of treatment uses a holistic approach, which shifts focus off the disease and places the emphasis on the persons and their families, using an interdisciplinary team approach.
Hospice is about life! It focuses on quality of life rather than quantity. It emphasizes living each day to its fullest.
Palliative Care seeks to improve the quality of life through the prevention and/or relief of pain, and by promoting spiritual, physical, social, cultural and emotional well-being.
Hospice care is provided wherever the patient calls home. This may be a private residence, an assisted living facility, or a retirement or nursing home. In some instances, hospice care may also be provided for a short period in an acute-care setting like a hospital. The goal in such exceptional situations would be to return patients to their home settings as soon as possible.
What Hospice Is Not
- Hospice is NOT a place or an institution like a hospital.
Hospice IS a philosophy of care provided wherever the patient calls home – residential, nursing or a retirement facility. - Hospice is NOT a place to send people to die.
Hospice IS a way of helping people live the remaining time of their lives fully and with as much comfort as possible. - Hospice is NOT a “death bed” service only for people in the last 48 hours of life.
Hospice IS a comprehensive care program for patients and families, which emphasizes quality of life; it is most effective during the final 6 months of life expectancy. - Hospice is NOT just for cancer patients.
Hospice IS available to patients of any age, race, sex, or religion who have a disease in its final stages. - Hospice is NOT a resignation to hopelessness and helplessness.
Hospice IS a way to realistically and humanely deal with one of the great challenges of human life by offering new perspectives on hope and help to patients and families. - Hospice care is NOT expensive.
Hospice IS a cost-effective, alternate system that keeps the patient at home and cared for by the family. Medicare, Medicaid as well as many private insurers cover hospice care.
