What is Hospice Care?
Though hospice as we know it has been around for over 40 years, many people are unfamiliar with what hospice actually is. Those who have heard about hospice are often unsure, confused or even frightened about what it means.
Let’s be upfront. Hospice is the care of the terminally ill. That’s not something most people want to deal with, for themselves or for their loved one. However, the end of life is part of the natural cycle. The more prepared for the final stages of life you can be, the more it increases the chances of making the transition dignified, comfortable, and beautiful.
Hospice care focuses first and foremost on comfort and quality of life. Those are important things at any time of life, but even more so at the end. ProCare Hospice is family-owned. We know how we want our family to be treated. That’s why we make sure your family is treated like members of our own. We devote our care to managing pain and symptoms to allow our patients to live each day as fully as possible.
Hospice is a holistic approach, and doesn’t focus only on the disease. It deals with physical condition, but also the mental, emotional and spiritual condition. That’s critical to the well-being of any patient. After all, your loved one is not a number or a chart. Addressing pain is important, but to not answer questions, grapple with beliefs, or deal with the waves of emotion present during this vulnerable time, adds anxiety and fear.
Hospice goes beyond the patient’s needs as well. Family and loved ones have questions, feelings, and needs that are important to address. A caregiver can’t help if they are suffering from depression or exhaustion. We partner with our community to ensure patients and their loved ones have access to the resources they need. Our ProCare Foundation works to alleviate financial anxiety for those in our care.
Each patient’s care is customized. No two people are alike, and what helps one person may not help another. We work to understand our patient and family’s unique needs, and craft a care plan that works for them.
Hospice can begin when a patient receives a prognosis of six months or less to live. Patients may initially choose to continue treatments, but once treatments are no longer effective or the burden of the disease or condition is too much to bear, hospice is a welcome and appropriate method of care.
Hospice is unique in that it provides relief for caregivers, families and loved ones, and even healthcare professionals from the strain of increasingly difficult challenges as a patient declines. Most people could not sustain the type of care and attention a dying person requires. Time and again, we hear how hospice allowed a patient’s last days to have meaning and joy.
In hospice, what truly matters is not the amount of days left in your life, but how much life is left in your days. Terminal illnesses can negatively impact so much of how a person lives. Hospice can often improve someone’s comfort and overall well-being enough to continue to enjoy social and other activities that are important to them. Our goal is always to help someone remain mobile, alert, and engaged, for as long as their conditions will allow.
No website can answer all your questions. Each person’s situation is unique. However, we at ProCare Hospice have been doing this for 9 years. Our family has made this journey many times with people like you and your loved one. We are honored and humbled each time we are asked to share the journey with someone in your family.
As soon as a life-limiting prognosis is determined, consider all your options. Find what works for you and your loved ones and make sure you make a fully-informed decision. We know that the earlier we can be involved, the more comfort, dignity and support your family can receive from our family. We understand how difficult it is. Know that ProCare will always be there to help answer your questions and help you and your loved one embrace meaning and peace at the end of life.