Archive for May 29th, 2009
Hospice
What do you know about Hospice? 
I know that I was not aware of hospice until the doctors told me that there was nothing more they could do for my father. His heart was only functioning at 20%, yet his mind was clear. He only wanted to return home. So, I was informed by the case manager that his doctor was recommending Hospice. After speaking with the case manager, and getting a better understanding of what hospice meant and provided, I spoke with my dad and told him he qualified for hospice. I thought he would be happy, but the look on his face didn’t relay that. I found out immediately why he didn’t seem pleased. In his own words, he thought hospice was, “a bone factory”. He thought we were simply going to place him in a facility and forget about him. Well, of course that isn’t what Hospice is, and the more we spoke about what Hospice was the more he liked the idea that he could come home.
Dad returned home from his last visit to the hospital, and Hospice took over. No more visits to the doctor’s office. His meds were taken care by the nurse that visited him 2-3 times a week. That depended on how he was feeling. He knew he was close to death, but he was happy to be at home. All of us knew that Hospice, was only a phone call away if we needed them. Their response was immediate.
Hospice did what they said they would. They treated the person, not the disease. We cherished each day that we had with him, and he loved being at home. He was able to put his things in order, and watch each day’s sunrise and sunset that he loved so much.
Yes, Hospice is a philosophy of care. The Hospice philosophy accepts death as the final stage of life, and it treats the person rather than the disease. It focuses on quality rather than length of life.
The goal of Hospice is to enable patients to continue an alert, pain-free life and to manage other symptoms so that their last days may be spent with dignity and quality, surrounded by their loved ones. It is family centered care, and it involves the patient and the family in making decisions.