What's Hospice Mean, And How Do You Handle It?

When you or a loved one is faced with a terminal illness, there may come a time that you or your loved one will need hospice care. If you’ve never dealt with this before, you may not know exactly what hospice care means.

Hospice care is a special kind of care that focuses on the quality of life for people and their caregivers who are experiencing an advanced, life-limiting illness. Hospice care provides compassionate care for people in the last phases of incurable disease so that they may live as fully and comfortably as possible.
American Cancer Society

Hospice usually starts once there are no other treatments for the illness. So instead of treatments, they start providing comfort care for the patient. This can be pain management to help through the final stages of life. Anything that helps the patient remain comfortable in those final days, which can actually be much more than just days.

According to Hospice Foundation Of America, hospice care is:

Medical care to help someone with a terminal illness live as well as possible for as long as possible, increasing quality of life.
An interdisciplinary team of professionals who address physical, psychosocial, and spiritual distress focused on both the dying person and their entire family.
Care that addresses symptom management, coordination of care, communication and decision making, clarification of goals of care, and quality of life.

You can be in hospice care for a long time. Sometimes people are at home on hospice, like my dad was. Other’s are in a facility receiving care. I’m happy that my dad was able to stay home and that my mom and I were there with the nurses and my dad every step of the way.

We were able to say goodbye and my dad was comfortable and not suffering during this time. If he had not had that care it would have been such a painful thing to go through and nobody wants that for anyone. You want your loved ones to be comfortable and have a peaceful time as they pass on.

Hospice caretakers help the family too

Of course, it was still a difficult thing to go through, but hospice caretakers are amazing people that do a difficult job. See, they don’t just help the patient, but they help the family as well.

I remember my dad’s hospice nurse telling me and my mom that we needed to get some sleep and that she would wake us with any changes. I was worried, but you know what? We slept and she did come and wake us as it got closer.

She was nice and helpful and if I was in better health, I think this would be something I would want to help others with.

Most people that are hospice patients are eligible for Medicare, and that should cover hospice care and other services. I believe it is all done through a hospice billing company.

While hearing about someone going into hospice is sad, it is also a blessing for many. Suffering is not ok for anyone, everyone deserves to pass with dignity.

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Girl on Fire

Photographer at Loudmouth Photography

Brandy is the wife to a carpenter/musician and the mother of 3 amazingly awesome homeschool/unschooled girls. Brandy is a Photographer as well as a Coach for the Weebellion as part of Rolling Rebellion Jr. Roller Derby. Brandy is passionate about many things and suffers from a very painful and degenerative neurological disease called CRPS/RSD.

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