What is Hospice?
What is Hospice?
We, at Aura Hospice and Palliative Care, believe that the fundamental goals
of hospice care are to bring comfort and promote the dignity of terminally ill people while
alleviating physical, emotional and spiritual suffering. Hospice care neither extends nor
hastens the dying process. Instead, hospice focuses on soothing, calming and relief; it is
not curative. Hospice or end-of-life care improves the overall quality of life for you or
your loved one when faced with life-limiting illness.
Where does hospice take place?
Hospice care isn’t a specific place; instead, it is a method of care or philosophy. It can be provided in any place you call home: a nursing home, foster home, assisted living, or the home you’ve lived in your entire life. Regardless of the location, Aura Hospice focuses on pain and symptom management.
What types treatments should I expect with hospice?
Because hospice is a holistic approach to care our treatments
focus on the whole person, not just the disease. This method allows our
hospice
team to not only focus on your needs as you face life-limiting illness, but
your
family’s needs as well. Our hospice team addresses your practical
concerns—for
example assistance with bathing, benefits eligibility, transportation—and
attends to emotional and spiritual needs, for you and your family. Our team,
which includes the physician, nurse, social worker, chaplain, pharmacist,
nursing assistant, nutritionist, physical therapist and volunteers, provides
this holistic care. Aura Hospice and Palliative Care rounds out it whole
person
approach by offering a number of complementary and alternative hospice
therapies
to meet both the physical and emotional needs of all our patients and
families.
Is hospice the same thing as palliative care?
Although there is a difference between palliative care and
hospice care, both alleviate suffering and enhance the quality of life for
you
or your loved one. Typically, hospice is provided only during the final few
months of a person’s life. Palliative care may be received earlier on to
accommodate those with a life-limiting illness. Many times palliative care
is
offered to manage symptoms or relieve pain and to assist with dealing with
the
daily impact on life and family members.
What’s the difference between hospice and home health nursing?
There are two differences between hospice care and home health
nursing…
First, any patient with a need for skilled medical care is
eligible to receive home health nursing. Various reasons such as
recuperating
from surgery or if intravenous medications are required for an infection
from
which a full recovery is expected. On the other hand, those receiving
hospice
care are diagnosed with a life-limiting illness—generally with six months or
less life expectancy —with the primary treatment guided toward holistic care
and
pain management, not recovery.
Second, nurses are the primary medical care to those receiving
homebound nursing care (in some situations additional services are ordered
such
as occupational or physical therapy). Those receiving Aura Hospice and
Palliative Care benefit from receiving the services of an entire
interdisciplinary team specialized in holistic end-of-life care.