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Hospice Care – Terminal Illness Counseling Services And Centers

Hospice care centers offer terminally ill patients medical, emotional and spiritual support. Supportive care emphasizes instilling comfort and peace in a terminally ill patient’s final days or hours. The types of medical care provided in these environments are focused on end-of-life counseling and relief from pain and symptoms rather then treatment intended to cure or rehabilitate the patient.

Death is part of the life experience and will require each of us to make very personal choices concerning where and under what conditions and circumstances one wishes to die. It is best if the choices are preplanned, informed and true to ones spiritual or personal beliefs.

Types of Hospice Care Services

The types of hospice care services are based on the patient’s current medical status as well as the patient’s individual preferences. The major distinction between different types of available hospice services depends on whether the terminal care is provided at home or at a hospice care facility and whether these end-of-life services are either private or publicly operated.

Depending on a patients personal preferences, family situation, financial circumstances, health insurance coverage, religious convictions, terminally ill patients can choose either home-care or hospice care. Hospitals rarely provide hospice types of services, since available beds are intended to be used by those who expect to recover from their condition. Ironically, hospitals are intended for the living, not the dying.

Caring for a terminally ill patient usually requires 24-hour care and attention. For the family of the patient it is often both emotionally and physically draining to manage the care on their own. For these reasons terminally ill patients will often choose to be admitted to a hospice care center where all of the patient’s physical and emotional needs are managed at one full-service location rather then placing the burden of care on the family. Alternatively, other patients and their family members insist on having the patient at home surrounded by family and the familiarity of their home surroundings.

Hospice Centers – Inpatient Care Facilities – Advanced Illness

In life there are many choices to make and the same is true when we face death.

Some of these choices include whether to be cared for at home or a local hospice care center. Many terminally ill patients selflessly choose a hospice center rather then their home because they do not want to burden their family with having to care for them.

Hospice centers are public or private, religious or non-denominational. The services that are provided by hospice centers include, medication and pain management, medical and social services, hospice certified nurses, end-of-life counseling and spiritual support.

Home Hospice – Routine Home Care

Under a home care scenario, a terminally ill patient spends their remaining time in their own home. Home care services are usually available to patients if they are in a stable condition. In addition to a patient’s home, home hospice services may also be provided to patients who are in assisted living facilities such as nursing homes.

Respite Care – When Family Caretakers Need Relief And Outside Support

There are two types of respite care, inpatient and outpatient. Routine home care involves substantial levels of in-house family care, but the pressure of care giving for a terminally ill loved one is both emotionally and physically draining. This is especially true where the patient is literally just hours or days from passing.

Under in-home respite care, family members can request and receive respite care from the outside by requesting that the patient be moved to a hospice for the remaining balance of care, or that they receive in-home assistance.

Under out-of-home respite care, end-of-life services are provided in the form of adult day programs and can include the use of caregiver support groups and volunteers.

Hospice Care Available Through Medicare

Hospice care and services are available through Medicare and is mostly delivered through home-care programs. In order to qualify for hospice care, the patient must be determined through medical certification that the patient is terminally ill and has a life expectancy of less then six months. Medicare covers medical and nursing care services on a twenty-four hour basis. This includes short-term acute impatient care. The Medicare benefits can be found in Part A. The coverage usually includes medical services, medical equipment, bedside care and medication.

Family Bereavement And Grief Counseling

When terminally ill patient finally pass, the sadness and grief experienced by the deceased’s family and loved ones still remains. The emotional welfare of the family does not end with the death of their loved one. In this regard, most hospice care facilities will work with the surviving family members to help them deal with their grief and provide them with emotional and psychological support. Make sure to ask the hospice center for a referral list of local grief counselors to help in the emotional recovery of the family.