Hospice provides a long list of care and support to their patients.
Hospice services provide intense care to those facing a terminal illness. The service is for the elderly or anyone diagnosed with a terminal illness with six months or less to live. Hospice care consists of a large team of individuals working together to provide comfort and compassion to patients.
Health Plan
Plans such as Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies typically cover hospice services. However; Medicare requires all services provided by hospice be done through the patient's home, with a limited number of inpatient visits to the hospice facility. In most cases, patients are required to pay out of pocket for any health care services not covered by insurance plans. Hospice services waive those fees if the individual has limited financial resources. This is possible because hospice raises money through many charitable resources.
Medical Care
Once a person becomes a hospice patient, a nurse and physician will be assigned to the patient, working together to monitor all existing symptoms, while continuing to watch for new symptoms. The nurse will inform the patient's physician of any new symptoms, so the patient can be provided with all the medication and medical treatment necessary to provide the utmost comfort and care.
Volunteer Services
Approximately 400,000 volunteers devote their personal time to hospice. This adds up to about 18 million donated hours per year. Volunteers offer love and compassion by comforting both patients and loved ones, giving them a helping hand and a friend to talk to, as needed.
Home Health Aids and Inpatient Care
Hospice provides care to patients both in their facility and at a patient's home. If an individual chooses to spend his last months or days at home and proper treatment can be given, inpatient care will be provided. This includes sending health aids to the individual's house to assist him with sponge baths and any personal care needed. They also provide light housekeeping and cooking, if needed.
Social Services
Every patient receives a social worker provided by hospice, in which the person will offer advise and comfort to both the patient and family members. The social worker will check in with the patient, as needed, making sure the patient and loved ones have all the resources necessary.
Respite Care
Hospice provides family members a service called respite care, which helps give them a break when needed. Hospice staff will provide family members a chance to rest up and take care of themselves so they can have the strength to come back and care for their ill loved one. Family members can become both physically and emotionally drained when losing a loved one to a terminal illness.
Spiritual Services
For any patient who wants spiritual guidance before death, hospice will provide the services. Spiritual counselors will help the patient come to terms with dying and help guide them through reading scriptures in the Bible, respecting the patient's personal religious preference.
Bereavement Support
Once a patient has died, hospice continues to offer services to family members in a time of mourning. They will give comfort and support by phone, volunteer counseling, support group meetings and even refer a grieving family member to a professional therapist when necessary.
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