Six Things We Wish You Knew About Hospice}

Six Things We Wish You Knew About Hospice

by

Theanna Zika

At Heavenly Helpers Senior Home Care, we have seen firsthand what great things hospice does for the individual and the family facing an end of life situation. We are not a hospice organization, but if a hospice agency has a client who needs someone to stay with him or her (perhaps the family cant or the hospice team doesnt have someone available), that is where we can come in. In the last several months, we have had a number of in-services for our caregivers that pertain to hospice care.

There are several things I find myself wishing everyone knew about hospice. Here are six that I want to highlight:

1. People are not taking advantage of hospice early enough to really reap all the benefits it has to offer. I was shocked to hear that only 33% of all hospice patients live 7 days or less.

2. Some people mistakenly believe hospice care is only for cancer patients. Not true! Qualification is based on certification that the patient probably has 6 months or less to live if their disease or affliction runs its natural course.

3. Everyone can utilize hospice regardless of financial situation. Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance will cover hospice so that no one will be turned away.

4. Hospice isnt about lessening care by any means! In fact, there is something called the hospice effect whereby a certain percentage of patients so greatly benefit from the care and attention, they actually get better! These patients are then able to come off hospice! Just remember that hospice care is not curative.

5. Hospice provides one year of bereavement services for the family after the patient dies. This is something that probably too few families either know about or take advantage of.

6. A person may stay on hospice more than 6 months. As long as the hospice medical director and the patients doctor continue to certify that the patient probably has 6 months or less to live, hospice will continue for another 6 months. There have been patients that have been on hospice for several years.

We hope this will serve as a guide to any questions you may have concerning end-of-life care, as well as a resource to other sources rich in information.

Theanna Zika is the owner of Heavenly Helpers Senior Home Care – an independent, non medical home care agency. Heavenly Helpers has been proudly serving the St. Louis, Missouri Metro area since 2004. Theanna Zika began Heavenly Helpers with a vision to “raise the bar” on the quality of existing home care for seniors. She is personally committed to making sure Heavenly Helpers is comprised of dedicated, honest and caring caregivers.To learn more, please visit us at www.heavenlyhelpers.net

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Six Things We Wish You Knew About Hospice}