What is Hospice? It’s Hope!

Hospice is comfort focused care where you and your family are part of a team of medical professionals whose goal is to provide symptom management for those who are diagnosed by their physician as terminally ill. Some of the qualifying diagnoses are congestive heart failure, COPD, renal failure, and cancer among others. The hospice team is composed of the patient, family, nurse, primary care physician, medical director, volunteers, chaplain, medical social worker and certified nursing assistant.

Hospice is a word that packs a big punch, but let me try to lessen the blow a bit. Hospice is a service that is paid for by Medicare and most insurance companies. This service can help you care for your loved one in the comfort of your own home, assisted living facility, nursing home, and sometimes in the hospital. This care-team driven approach gives you symptom control to have peace and comfort throughout your illness. It also gives you and your family support through spiritual guidance, physical symptom management, and education to help guide you through this journey. Hospice care is intermittent care, this means at you will need to have a primary caregiver. The hospice team comes in and out to make assessments, interventions, update care plans, report to the physician, and teach you how to care for your family member. The frequency of visits varies based on the stage of your illness. The nurse comes as often as needed to provide interventions and education. In addition, Hospice has a nurse on call 24/7 to answer questions or make visits if needed. This is all to help you stay home and avoid unnecessary visits to the doctor’s office and/or hospital helping you to conserve energy. This Hospice benefit can be utilized to help both you and your family through your journey.

One of the most common fears that are heard by hospice staff are fears of medications that may hasten death. Rest assured that you are still in control and have the final say with limiting care, but it’s the hospice team’s job to educate you on the benefits vs. burdens of all comfort focused treatments. Another thing that I can mention is that our team cares for your family as we would our own. Through our care, you can rest assure that your family will be supported throughout this journey however short or long that may be.

We define hope as an expectation for future good. Hospice is hope. Hope for a peaceful journey. Hope for spiritual guidance. Quality of care surrounded by your loved ones in the comfort of familiar surroundings can sometimes buy more time for your loved one. We have seen that by reducing stress, pain, and suffering it allows the body to reserve energy to survive longer. In other words, it’s not wasting energy fighting symptoms that can be better controlled with hospice interventions. The hospice team specializes in management of symptoms. This time spent with better symptom control can allow for finishing of business, meaningful conversation, improved quality of life with family and friends, and finally closure.

If you or your loved one has been diagnosed with a chronic illness and can no longer receive aggressive treatments or no longer wish to receive aggressive treatments, it may be beneficial to consider hospice care. Our local agency and its nurses have been caring for residents in our parish and surrounding areas for over 35 years. We offer you patient-driven, compassionate, & professional care right here at home. Our care brings hope to help people live life as fully as possible; it does not restrict you from doing anything as long as you are able to do it. We offer dignity when there is not a cure, and we surround families with love during one of the most challenging times. Thank you for taking the time to educate yourself on hospice care. We hope that this was both heartfelt and informative. You can call our office for a free consultation, and our team can answer any questions you may have.  Thank you for considering Pointe Coupee Homebound Health and Hospice for your healthcare needs.

            Contact Us:

350 Hospital Road

New Roads, LA 70760

Call: (225) 638-5717

Fax: (225) 638-5849

www.pchhh.org