TAKING THE “BITE” OUT OF THE WORD HOSPICE

Many patients and their families decline hospice care because they feel the patient is not ready to die.  The word hospice is a terrifying word because it is associated with end-of-life, but the confusion is that most people do not understand what hospice is and how it can create comfort for people and their families during a heartbreaking time.

The goal of hospice is to maintain or improve the quality of life for the person who is unlikely to be cured. Hospice care helps to alleviate the symptoms of a disease while controlling pain and discomfort. Hospice focuses on making the end-of-life process as comfortable as possible while offering comfort and support to the person and their families during such a difficult time.

Many families believe that hospice is only for those with a few days or weeks to live, but that is simply not true. Hospice does not speed up the dying process, in fact, some patients receiving hospice care can actually live longer. This is because their quality of life and emotional well-being have improved and allowed their body time to plateau instead of continuing to worsen. The biggest difference between hospice care and traditional medical care is that hospice care no longer focuses on curing the patient. It instead focuses on enhancing the patient’s quality of life by controlling symptoms such as pain and discomfort.

Hospice care is a good match for patients in progressive stages of non-curable diseases, the very weak or the extremely elderly. One of the advantages of hospice is the hospice team will make visits in the comfort of your own home while leaving the person in a familiar environment.  Care.com lists some benefits of hospice care and how hospice can lessen your financial burden and can bring comfort and dignity to those nearing end-of-life¹.

Hospice provides patients and their families comfort, support, and guidance through a team that consists of a doctor, nurses, aides, social workers and chaplains.  St. John’s Hospice provides 24-hour on-call care and support to all patients and families every day of the week. Additionally, there is no cost to the patient for medications or medical equipment related to the patient’s hospice diagnosis.

If you think hospice care may be right for you or a loved one, contact a compassionate team member at St. John’s Hospice to see if hospice is right for you.

¹ https://www.care.com/c/benefits-of-hospice-care/

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