Home Hospice Helps People Navigate End of Life
Posted in General
The announcement recently that President Jimmy Carter had chosen to receive Hospice Care in his home was seen by millions in our country. Although many of us have had experience with a loved one in hospice, lots of families have not and simply don’t know what that means and what to expect.
Our non-profit agency, Home Health & Hospice Care has been providing hospice care in homes all across NH for many years and thought that with President Carter on people’s minds, it would be helpful to have a better understanding of what hospice in the home means.
When medical care can no longer offer a cure, hospice focuses on providing patients with comfort, dignity and quality of life as the end of life draws near. It isn’t about giving up hope, but rather focusing on a new hope; one in which disease symptoms and pain are controlled, so a patient’s remaining time with loved ones is enriched. Hospice is about providing physical, emotional, spiritual and social support to patients and their families, in the place that everyone is the most comfortable- home.
Our Hospice Care Team is comprised of Hospice/Palliative Care Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Nursing Assistants, Social Workers, Chaplains and a talented, highly trained group of volunteers. A Hospice Physician will lead the Team in the development of a Plan of Care that will meet each patient’s individual needs, along with those of the patient’s loved ones. And when a patient has passed on, our agency provides free bereavement support to the family for a year after the death, with support groups and a monthly grief and bereavement lecture series.
Even in the face of great sorrow, family members who have been through the hospice experience at home, consistently express their gratitude. The words of a recent note we received from a daughter of one of our patients said it best, “The care and attention that my mother received were beyond what we ever could have imagined. There aren’t words to express the difference you all made to our family.”