WellStar Community Hospice Raises Awareness During Hospice and Palliative Care Month

November was National Hospice Month. Coping with a life-limiting illness is not easy. In fact, it might be the hardest work anyone will ever do. Working with doctors and hospitals, navigating the maze of care needs, figuring out insurance coverage, all in addition to taking care of a family can be overwhelming. WellStar Community Hospice wants the community to know that there’s help.

Hospice providers take the time to talk with patients and loved ones to help them understand their illness and what care options might be available. They make patient wishes a priority and make sure patients get the care they want and deserve.

Hospice care provides expert pain management, symptom control, psycho-social support and spiritual care to patients and families when a cure is not possible. All the necessary medicines and equipment needed to keep a patient comfortable can be brought right to the home, which is where most people would like to be if at all possible. 

• A Gallup poll reveals that close to nine in 10 adults (88 percent) would prefer to die in their homes, free of pain, surrounded by family and loved ones: Hospice works to make this happen.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has indicated that expanding the reach of hospice care holds enormous potential benefits for those nearing the end of life, whether they are in nursing homes, their own homes, or in hospitals.

It’s about quality of life. With the help of hospice, patients and families can focus on what’s most important, living as fully as possible in spite of illness. There is an inaccurate perception among the American public that hospice means you have given up. Those who have worked in hospice have seen firsthand how hospice can improve the quality of life.  There is a growing body of research showing that hospice may prolong the lives of some people who receive care.

One of the most challenging issues facing hospices is the misconception that hospice services are limited to six months of service.  Physicians treating patients with chronic diseases such as CHF and COPD are often reluctant to refer patients because they do not have a crystal ball that tells them exactly when their patients will pass away. 

• The Medicare Hospice Benefit requires that a terminally-ill patient have a prognosis of six months or less: There is not a six-month limit to hospice care services.
• Hospice eligibility requirements should not be confused with length of service.
• A patient in the final phase of life may receive hospice care for as long as necessary when a physician is able to certify that the patient continues to meet hospice eligibility requirements.
• Under the Medicare Hospice Benefit, two 90-day periods of care (a total of six months) are followed by an unlimited number of 60-day periods.

For additional information on hospice, please contact WellStar Community Hospice at 770-732-6710.