Everything You Need to Know about Hospice Care

Everything You Need to Know about Hospice Care

If your loved one is experiencing the final stages of a terminal illness, you’re probably wondering what to do next. You’ve done the research and listened to the experts, but the sense of uncertainty won’t go away.

After all, there’s a lot of information out there and it can be difficult to make sense of it all.

In order to make things a little easier, we’ve gathered together a summary of what you can expect from hospice care and how it can benefit your loved one.

How Does Hospice Care Work?

Hospice care is all about providing comfort for the terminally ill at the end of their life. Whether it be physically, emotionally, or spiritually, here are some of the most common comforts that hospice care provides.

Physical Comforts

Medication for symptoms and physical therapy are two of the most common methods with which hospice care manages the illness of a patient.

In addition, equipment such as oxygen, wheelchairs, and walkers are made available, so that patients can remain as physically active as possible and enhance their quality of life.

Emotional Comforts

Another benefit of hospice care is that it provides emotional comfort to patients. How this is done depends on the hospice care provider, but one of the most common methods is for social workers and volunteers to regularly visit patients and keep them company.

It’s important for the patients to have a sense of still being a part of the world, and through these visits, they’re able to connect with others and still feel like themselves.

Spiritual Comforts

Also made available at many hospice facilities is the presence of chaplains. Hospice chaplains can do more than simply talk with the patients; they can assess a patient’s spiritual needs, then plan for how best to approach the patient’s end-of-life process.

Since many patients rely on their spirituality to help them through the final phase of their life, a chaplain can be integral to ensuring they find peace.

How Do You Know When to Start Hospice Care?

When a life-threatening illness reaches the point where recovery is no longer a viable option, hospice care comes into play. Typically, this is when a patient is diagnosed with less than six months to live.

Hospice care should also be considered if a patient is in the final stages of dementia, Alzheimer’s, or another debilitating physical/mental state.

Conserving the Quality of Life of Your Loved One

Just because the doctor says your loved one is terminally ill doesn’t mean they have to be bedridden. Hospice care is about taking patients at the end of their lives and ensuring they receive all the physical, emotional, and spiritual aid they need.

Hospice care makes sure your loved one’s quality of life doesn’t suffer any more than it has to.

The end of life doesn’t have to be the end of living.

Are you considering hospice care for your loved one? Reach out to Divinity Hospice online or by phone (281-339-7079). We’ll give your loved one the respect, attention, and personalized care they deserve.