How Spiritual Counseling Helps Families Through Medicare Hospice

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LIFESPARK COMMUNITY HOME CARE

For more information about the author, click to view their website: Lifespark

Posted on

Jan 18, 2025

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Minnesota - Twin Cities Metro Area

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In health care settings, the body gets medical attention, but the mind and soul matter, tooOlder adults in medical care face a battery of health questions, but too often the most consequential one goes unasked and unanswered: What does a good day look like for you today?

Medicare requires people to receive a spiritual assessment within their first five days of admission into hospice. Many states allow a nurse to conduct the initial spiritual assessment, but I think it helps both the person and the health care provider for the assessment to be done with someone who has theological training. Many have been certified in clinical pastoral education, or CPE. Nurses can get so focused on the technical to-do lists of medical work — the measurements, the tests, the drug regimens — that it can be hard to make time for the issues that matter most to the living human, namely, their happiness, peace and contentment.  


As a spiritual care provider with 17 years in senior care facilities, and as a chaplain in the Army National Guard and Air Force National Guard, I have counseled hundreds of people in the final days of their lives.  For older adults and their families, one of the most valuable resources is also little-known – a Medicare option that provides spiritual counseling for people in hospice. 


Longing for Conversation

Too often older adults in care are being talked at, not listened to. Many times, I've found that people in the last chapter of life want to discuss their path to the end more than their medical professionals – and, especially, more than their loved ones.  It often helps to have that discussion with a professional who is trained to hear them, and, if requested, to comfort and advise them. 

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The code of ethics for the leading chaplain and spiritual care associations all prohibit proselytizing. A spiritual care provider should be able to work with someone on their own terms, no matter their beliefs. The United States may be turning more secular, but the fact remains that older adults are the most faith-affiliated of any demographic age group.

This initial spiritual meeting is likely to be about the basics: Is the person religious? What is their support system? Will a certain faith-based ritual bring meaning or comfort? Do they have a preferred faith leader? Or is a secular discussion a better fit for the person's beliefs? 

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