Hospice Care

Hospice care is generally thought of as end of life care. Hospice is a philosophy of care unlike other traditional health care. Hospice care generally accepts death as the final stage of life. The goal of hospice care is to enable patients to continue a pain-free life. This enables patients to live their last remaining days with dignity, surrounded by their loved ones.

Hospice care focuses on the person or patient and their quality of life rather than the disease. Hospice care is provided for the patient and family 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and helps the family make end of life decisions.

Most hospice care is given in the home, with a family member or members serving as the main caregiver; but hospice care can also be received in a hospital, nursing home, or private hospice facility. Hospice Care is a combination of facility-based and home care provided to benefit terminally ill patients and support their families.

Hospice care is suitable when a loved one can no longer benefit from medical treatments or when one generally is expected to live 6 months or less. One of the biggest problems with hospice care is that it is not started soon enough. Thus, many cases involve people who can no longer make decisions regarding their own care. The main goal of hospice care is to help the people who are dying have peace, comfort and dignity in their last remaining moments.