Aspire Home Health & Hospice

Many families struggle with the thought of placing their loved on hospice.They often feel like they are writing a death sentence and prematurely causing fatality. Emotions are running strong, especially the feeling of guilt.If families could step away from the emotions and understand the logic and numbers behind hospice, they would feel comforted and it would calm their fears. Studies show Hospice adds quality of life while postponing aggressive treatments. In one study, researchers followed 4,496 Medicare patients with either terminal cancer or congestive heart failure. They found no difference in survival time between hospice and non-hospice patients with breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer. Moreover, hospice care seemed to extend survival time for select patients: those with pancreatic cancer gained an average of three weeks, those with lung cancer gained six weeks and those with congestive heart failure gained three months.How does hospice accomplish increasing survival time of a patient? Hospice is designed to put the person back in the center of his/her health and allow them to take back control of their life. How does hospice place the patient in charge of their care? This is accomplished by the work of a dedicated team of hospice professionals, who understand. This includes the physical, social, emotional, and spiritual needs of a person with a life limiting illness. The patient and their family members are included in the creation of the care plan. Visit times are coordinated with busy family schedules. Symptoms and pain are managed instead of the patient experiencing extreme side effects. Hospice is able to add non-traditional modalities of health care such as Chaplin services; music, massage and aroma therapy. The addition of all these services empowers a family to be able to care for their loved one in the privacy of their home.As a hospice agency, we often hear family's express gratitude for patient centered care. Here are several examples of our patients family members comments:Hospice has given my family the power to take control of my dads cancer.Hospice has provided the support to bring my family together to share in an amazing experience of love in giving to my dad what he wanted most.Hospice has provided this opportunity with the amazing team members that give the service our family has needed to spend the last moments making memories instead of being held hostage with hospital routines that you have no control over.Hospice is a wonderful Medicare benefit which provides compassionate end of life care. It allows for families to have physical and emotional support during this difficult time.Editors Note: This article was submitted by Kris Carter. Kris Carter is the Executive Director of Aspire Home Health and Hospice and may be reached at 801-292-0296 or by email at [email protected].