What is Hospice?

Hospice is a program of care that provides comfort and support for persons with life-limiting conditions as well as their families.  Hospice forgoes most diagnostic testing and life-prolonging treatments, instead aiming to make the person comfortable and relieve their symptoms and pain for the length of their illness.

Receiving hospice services does not mean an individual is imminently dying.  Being on hospice means a person wants to have the best quality of life for as long as he/she is able.  It means a person wants to be able to enjoy family, accomplish goals, and enjoy life while they are living!!  It’s about how they LIVE!!

An individual is generally admitted to hospice when it is determined their life expectancy is approximately 6 months if the disease continues on its normal course.  This does not mean that care will only be provided for 6 months.  Hospice can continue to be provided as long as the physician and the hospice team certifies that the patient’s condition is declining and remains life-limiting.

Studies have shown, patients often improve once under hospice care, whether temporarily or for a longer period of time.  If the patient’s condition dramatically improves and stabilizes, the patient can be discharged from hospice.  If his/her condition again declines, hospice care can again resume at that later time.

 

Hands of Hope Hospice
1379 E 17th St
Idaho Falls, ID 83404
 (208) 523-7441
info@handsofhopehospice.com

Who provides hospice services?
Hospice care is a family-centered approach that includes a medical advisor, nurses, aides, social workers, counselors and volunteers. These individuals make up the Hospice Team.   Together they focus on the ill individual and their family’s needs, providing services and assistance as the patient and family desire.  The goal is to keep the person as pain-free, comfortable, and symptom-free as possible, in the home of their choice until death.
Who Pays for Hospice?
Hospice is provided regardless of ability to pay.  Hospice is a covered service under Medicare Part A, Medicaid, and most insurance companies.

What Services Can I Expect?

The hospice team will provide the following services in the home, whatever that setting is:

  • Manage pain and other symptoms, alleviate suffering associated with a terminal illness.
  • Support patient and family through the emotional, psychosocial and spiritual aspects of dying
  • Provide medications, medical supplies and equipment undefined
  • Teach family members skills needed to care for the ill family member undefined
  • Provide regular nursing visits to assess symptoms, adjust medications, and teach patient and family about the changes which are occurring
  • Provide certified hospice aides to assist with bathing, light housekeeping and assistance with meals 
  • Provide counseling for patient and family to help in dealing with end-of-life issues, assist with understanding Medicare and Medicaid, and in finding and coordinating community resources.
  • Deliver special services such as speech therapy and physical therapy if needed to improve the quality of life.
  • Make short-term inpatient care available when pain or other symptoms become too difficult to manage at home
  • Make 5 day respite care available to relieve family and provide a short rest
  • Have a nurse available on-call 24hrs per day, 7 days per week to address questions, concerns and make home visits as needed after hours
  • Provide grief support and counseling after patients death
Myths About Hospice

Myth:  Hospice care is only for cancer patients


Reality:  Hospice care is for patients with a life-limiting illness with a prognosis of approximately 6 months.  This includes but is not limited to:  Alzheimers, heart disease, lung disease, Lou Gehrig’s (ALS), stroke, liver disease, kidney disease.


Myth:  Hospice is for people who have “no hope”


Reality:  With hospice, the miracle isn’t in the cure---it’s in the caring.  Because patients get substantial relief from pain and other symptoms—and their families are supported by a caring hospice team—they can choose exactly how they will spend their final months of life.  This means they have a meaningful, dignified, peaceful end-of-life experience.


Myth:  Hospice is just for the patient


Reality:  Meeting the needs of the patient and the family is a top priority.  The family unit is at the center of all decision making.  Hospice recognizes that it takes many caregivers to meet the unique needs of each patient.


Myth:  Hospice is a place


Reality:  Hospice is a philosophy of care, not a place.  Patients can receive hospice care wherever they live—their home, an assisted living facility, or a nursing home.  It is their right to have this extra and specialized care in whatever setting they are in.


Myth:  Hospice “dopes people up” so they become addicted or sleep all the time and make them die sooner.


Reality:  When patients have a legitimate need for pain medication, they do not become addicted to it.  Hospice has unmatched expertise in managing pain so patients are comfortable, yet alert, and able to enjoy each day to the fullest extent possible.  Giving patients the medications they need to have their symptoms controlled--whether it be pain, anxiety or other symptoms—will not hasten death.


Myth:  Hospice is for people who have only a few days to live


Reality:  Hospice care can be provided when a cure is no longer possible.  Unfortunately, many people enter the program too late to fully benefit from the many services available to them and their families.  It is a good idea to talk with the physician, or contact hospice during a life-threatening illness to obtain information and discuss as an option.  The information given will help patient and family in making choices if and when hospice is appropriate.

 
Created and Maintained by WSI