Understanding Hospice Care
We’re reinventing healthcare by keeping you and your needs at the heart of everything we do. Part of our overall mission is to provide quality lifetime care at minimal cost. Hospice care services focus on providing patients with the best possible remaining quality of life. With in-depth care, education and training, we offer pain reduction, maximum comfort, and emotional and spiritual support for patients and families.
What exactly is hospice care?
Hospice care focuses on reducing pain and suffering from ailments such as cancer, renal failure, AIDS, or other terminal illnesses that cause great discomfort in the last stages of a patient’s life by providing medical care along with emotional and spiritual guidance when they need it most. It is an accepting and comforting ending to a life journey.
Hospice care is primarily provided in the home — whether “home” is a person’s house or a long-term care facility, a nursing home or an assisted living facility. Why? At home, patients are surrounded by the loving support of their family and friends.
What types of hospice care services do we provide?
- Routine hospice care services are provided at the patient’s home and are available around the clock. These services are delivered by our experts in pain management and symptom control.
- Continuous care is provided when a patient needs more constant care. With a goal to provide symptom management at the patient’s residence rather than transferring him/her to a hospital, we provide short-term, periodic and supplemental support in the home, nursing home or assisted living facility. Continuous care is available in short periods of time, varying in length up to 24 hours a day.
- Respite care helps caregivers deal with the many demands they shoulder during this trying time. Respite care is available for up to five days and is usually provided in the nursing care setting.
- Inpatient care is provided during a medical crisis to control or manage complex symptoms. The patient may be in a hospital, skilled nursing facility or Chapters Health hospice house. Although inpatient care takes place outside the patient’s primary residence, our team continues to coordinate care. “Inpatient care” can also include inpatient level of care in a contracted bed (either hospital or skilled nursing facility).
Who Qualifies For Hospice Care?
These are a few of the most common diagnoses seen in hospice patients. However, that does not mean that hospice programs are exclusive only to patients with those conditions.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Congestive heart failure (CHF)
Ischemic heart disease
Diabetes mellitus
Neurologic disease (cerebrovascular accident, Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
Renal failure
Liver disease
Neoplasia
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome/HIV
Dementia
Refractory severe autoimmune disease (e.g., lupus or rheumatoid arthritis)
Recurrent sepsis
