The Role of Hospice Services in End-of-Life Care: Insights for Families

The sunset years are a source of anxiety for many people. Your elderly loved ones may be worried about causing complication and heartache in the lives of their families. In turn, their families are heartsick at the thought of the suffering that often comes with end-of-life care.

This is why it is vital to have a good hospice team on your side as you navigate important decisions with your loved ones. Hospice care is a deeply personal topic; every person has unique needs during this time, and their family members will also have concerns and wishes that need to be accommodated.

While some hospice providers offer only the bare minimum of comfort and services, others go above and beyond in tailoring care for every patient. A larger hospice team means more nurses available at more times of day, which in turn ensures better quality of life.

If you or a loved one is facing the need for hospice care, consider obtaining hospice services from a hospice care team that is focused on quality of life and comfort.

How Hospice Providers Give Family Members Peace of Mind

If you have ever dealt with a sick or injured family member you know how hard it can be to watch them suffer and be unable to offer much relief. This misery is multiplied in end of life care, when physical troubles become so great that only a medical professional can help relieve the symptoms.

If serious illness or some other precipitating incident or condition has prompted a need for hospice care, it is time to start evaluating your options for which hospice program to choose.

Medical Supplies and Pharmaceuticals: Everything Your Loved One Needs

If you have been struggling to help your loved one to stay comfortable and manage symptoms, it may be time to turn these tasks over to licensed professionals.

No more confusing doctor visits and repeated conversations with pharmacists about increasingly complex medications; let the hospice doctor and the whole hospice team work out a system of symptom management that will keep your loved one calm and pain free in palliative care.

A good hospice focuses on patient comfort and will make your life much less complex, leaving you to be able to focus on showing love and support during your elderly family member’s last days.

Your Hospice Team: Twenty Four Hour Hospice Care

If you have been trying on your own to keep up with your elderly loved one’s needs, you are probably run ragged. Pain has no concept of time, so they may find themselves too uncomfortable to sleep during the night, or have a sudden need while you are at work.

When your loved one enters hospice care, you will be able to arrange for inpatient respite care, allowing you to take a few days to recuperate.

Night nurses will be able to calm their late night fears, adjust their medications as needed, and care for their needs that fall outside of your available hours.

When you have rested you will find yourself better able to continue navigating the difficulties of helping your family member in hospice care.

Hospice care makes the problems of end of life care much more bearable, both for the patient and for their loved ones.

Hospice Care In Home: When Your Loved One Doesn’t Want to Move

If your loved one has an expressed interest in staying at home, hospice services are available to help that to be more comfortable and manageable for them and for their caregivers. Home hospice care focuses on supporting patient comfort while under medical supervision to ensure the needed medical supplies are available.

Wherever you choose to administer palliative care, a hospice services team can help you make this difficult time more manageable.

Can Your Loved One Afford Hospice Services?

A diagnosis requiring hospice care is a very somber moment in a person’s life. For this diagnosis to be made the patient has a life expectancy of six months or less.

With the great needs of supervision and medical care that hospice patients need, how can a patient or their family afford to pay for hospice services?

Medicare Will Cover Hospice Care Costs

Terminal illness that results in a need for hospice care is covered under Medicare part A. This means that the patient will have minimal out of pocket expenses in order to receive the best of care.

When doctors agree that it is time for your loved one to begin hospice care, much more support and help will become available for you to continue caring for your family member.

What If your Loved One Exceeds Their Life Expectancy?

What if six months go by and your loved one is still in the same condition?

As long as the condition is the same, hospice services will continue to be paid for under medicare. You will enjoy more months with your loved one, without having to worry about suddenly shouldering the financial burden of care.

And if your loved one begins to recover with the help of physical therapy and medication, they can even be taken off of hospice care. No financial consequences will result, and you can take joy in the extension of the hospice patient’s life.

A Hospice Team on Your Side

When you or a loved one becomes eligible for hospice care, many more resources will become available for comfort, symptom management, and round the clock care if needed. Whether you are using private health insurance or medicare to cover hospice care, many of the stressors surrounding comfort, health and safety will be alleviated.

Palliative care is an intimate, sensitive area of family life. Sometimes family members are the best choice for providing this type of care, while sometimes a hospice team is the best choice. Whatever the needs of your particular situation, look for a provider of hospice services that will bring dedication, reliability, and sympathy to your hospice care journey.