Hospice and Palliative Care

Hospice is a concept of caring derived from medieval times, symbolizing a place where travelers, pilgrims and the sick, wounded or dying could find rest and comfort.

The contemporary hospice offers a comprehensive program of care to patients and families facing a life threatening illness.

Hospice is primarily a concept of care, not a specific place of care.

Hospice emphasizes palliative rather than curative treatment ~ quality rather than quantity of life. The dying are comforted. Professional medical care is given, and sophisticated symptom relief provided. The patient and family are both included in the care plan and emotional, spiritual and practical support is given based on the patient’s wishes and family’s needs. Trained volunteers can offer respite care for family members as well as meaningful support to the patient.

Hospice affirms life and regards dying as a normal process. Hospice neither hastens nor postpones death. Hospice provides personalized services and a caring community so that patients and families can attain the necessary preparation for a death that is satisfactory to them.

Those involved in the process of dying have a variety of physical, spiritual, emotional and social needs. The nature of dying is so unique that the goal of the hospice team is to be sensitive and responsive to the special requirements of each individual and family.

Hospice care is provided to patients who have a limited life expectancy. Although most hospice patients are cancer patients, hospices accept anyone regardless of age or type of illness. These patients have also made a decision to spend their last months at home or in a homelike setting. Hospice care is a choice you make to enhance life for a dying person. A person with a terminal disease may choose to die at home with the support of family, friends, and caring professionals. Hospice care emphasizes comfort measures and counseling to provide social, spiritual and physical support to the dying patient and his or her family. All hospice care is under professional medical supervision. Over 90% of hospice care is provided in the patient's home.

The physical pain arising from a terminal illness may be debilitating, frightening and dehumanizing. Hospice providers have the skills and resources to permit persons to live as pain-free, as comfortable, and as full a life as possible. In addition to providing for the physical comfort of the dying person, hospice provides social and spiritual support for the patient and his or her family. This support takes the form of time-off for the primary caregiver, personal care, nutritional counseling, pastoral counseling, grief counseling, and help with legal and funeral arrangements.

Additional information may be obtained through the following contacts:

www.hospicenet.org