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When terminally ill persons are referred to Home Hospice, the patient's attending physician is contacted for confirmation of diagnosis and prognosis. The patient's attending physician directs the medical care and plan of treatment for their patient in conjunction with the Home Hospice interdisciplinary team. Home Hospice nurses are experts in pain and symptom management and strive to achieve the highest quality of life for their patients when the quantity of life can no longer be extended. The social workers work with the family to alleviate any pain from emotional, social or financial problems. Personal Care Providers are available to provide help with daily hygiene and other personal care tasks. Volunteers provide support and aid with other tasks that at this time may seem overwhelming. Dr. Ira Byock, author of Dying Well, states, "Dying is never fun and it is rarely easy. Most people experience a time of discomfort and personal struggle in the process of dying. But the arduous nature of the experience should not obscure its potential value. Many, many people have told me that the last part of their life has been among the most wonderful times of their life. "The Most-Avoided Conversation in Medicine", New York Times, December 26, 2006. |
Physician's Newsletter
Glen Davis, RN, is one of our newest staff nurses. |
This phenomenon of human experience is largely ignored in public discussions despite its relative frequency." Shouldn't this important time in your patient's life include the best possible care. Home Hospice, as this community's ONLY non-profit United Way hospice, never denies care to anyone regardless of their ability to pay. "...the current 'non-system' of American health care routinely pauperizes people for being seriously ill and not dying quickly enough! Added to the worries of illness, patients worry that in continuing to live they will consume their life's savings and then bankrupt their family," says Dr. Byock, expressing a concern that the founders of Home Hospice as a community based non-profit shared.
When asked what medicine can offer when a cure is no longer
possible, Dr. John Saunders of Denison said, "To make the
patient as comfortable as possible to ease the pain physically
and give support emotionally to assume a dignified death."
Home Hospice strives daily to do just that!
Dr. Rudolf Good, Texas Cancer Center, stated when asked why he
supports hospice care, "it provides incurable patients the
opportunity to stay at home where they are most comfortable and
it gives them dignity and self control."
Home Hospice strives daily to do just that!
We asked Dr. Robert McLeroy of Gainesville why he believed
hospice care was valuable, and he responded, "It allows us
to promise that someone will be there when a patient is dying.
Hospice aides, nurses and staff are among the most dedicated,
caring professionals I have met [Hospice care] is the best
answer, to date, for a tough problem."
Suggested websites:
- www.npr.org/programs/death/readings/essays/cass.html
- www.npr.org/programs/death/readings/essays/byock.html
- www.npr.org/programs/death/readings/essays/macd.html
- www.npr.org/programs/death/readings/essays/gordon/html
- www.eperc.mcw.edu
- eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/bioethics/topics/eol.html
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