Hospice care is a specialized service for people who are terminally ill. According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization hospice care has four goals. These goals are to assure patient safety, comfort, and dignity, while promoting effective coping and grieving for the family/ care givers.
Terminally ill patients need to know they hospice care service can live out there last days in peace. Hospice assures that this is possible. Most people when asked state their preference would be to live their final days in their own home surrounded by family and friends. Hospice care, is provided in the patient’s home 99 % of the time. Hospice care is provided by specially trained nurses and other professionals so that the patient and family can maintain a quality of life in the most natural setting – the home.
The thought of dealing with a terminal illness either personally or with a loved one invokes feelings of fear, pain, and suffering. Hospice is here to help ease the emotional burdens associated with dealing with the dying process. It is a comprehensive service program to covers costs of medications, medical equipment and supplies, professional visits and around the clock on-call support. Often families will report, “we wish we would have known about hospice sooner.” It is a unique service that assures patients and families get to deal with unfinished business in a timely manner. Hospice eases the suffering related to dealing with a terminal illness.