Hospice Care
Hospice Care at Assurety
Assurety's hospice care plan is far more cost effective and personalized
when compared to most hospice options.
Finding Comfort In the Most Stressful of Times
Our staff members are kind, caring and specially trained in the unique issues surrounding death and dying. They communicate well, are good listeners, and are interested in working with families who are coping with a life-threatening illness.
During such times of need, the last thing you should have to
worry about are expenses and high costs of care. Assurety provides the
caring assistance you need without the concerns of exorbitantly high costs.
Call us today to learn more.
Hospice gives treatment to help relieve disease-related
symptoms, but not cure the disease. Its main purpose is to focus
on quality, rather than length of life. The goal of hospice is to
allow patients to be comfortable, continue a pain-free life and
to manage other symptoms so that their last days may be spent
with dignity and quality, allowing them to stay in control of
and enjoy life surrounded by their loved ones.
Side effects and symptoms are managed to make sure that the
patient is as free of symptoms as possible, yet still alert
enough to enjoy the people around them and make important
decisions. In addition to symptom and pain relief, hospice
offers emotional and spiritual support to the individual and
their families, typically in the last six months of life.
Family-centered care
Hospice involves the patient
and the family in making decisions. Care is provided for the
patient and family 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The patient
and caregivers are encouraged to contact the hospice team if
there is any problem. Hospice care assures that the patient and
their family that they are not alone and help can be reached at
any time.
Needless pain can bring unnecessary distress to a person who is
dying and the loved ones caring for them. Our hospice professionals
at Assurety
are committed to bringing pain under control as quickly as
possible. An important principle in the approach is that drug
doses are carefully adjusted for each patient. This assures pain
relief without loss of alertness. In treating the patient, the
hospice doctor and pharmacist are guided by assessments that are
repeated as often as necessary, with adjustments in medications
so that the patient will be as comfortable as possible. Ease of
administering is an important consideration too. Patients are
spared injections whenever possible to make their lives more
comfortable.
A Dedicated Hospice Team
As in patient care, hospice care is a task that requires
constant assessment, support, and coordination to help patients
pursue the goal of quality living. An interdisciplinary health
care team manages the hospice care. This means that many
interacting disciplines work together to care for the patient.
The interdisciplinary team coordinates and supervises all care.
Doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, home health aides,
clergy, therapists, and trained volunteers all care for the
individual. Each of these people offer support based on their
special areas of expertise.
As a team, they review the patient's status daily and monitor
psychological and spiritual pain. In addition, consultants in
several fields of health care complement the efforts of the
medical and nursing staffs. This team is responsible for making
sure that all involved services share information. Together,
they then give the patient and their loved ones complete
palliative care aimed at not only relieving symptoms but giving
essential social, emotional, and spiritual support. These
professionals maintain medicine as an art, a science, and a
philosophy. Because of their energy, dedication, and
professional skills, they uphold a tradition of quality patient
care.
Professional expertise and an individualized care plan make
possible a control of pain rarely achieved in other health care
settings. Nowhere is this more evident than in the work of the
hospice team. The hospice care plan must be creative, and
flexible to react to the constantly changing challenges of
declining health. Some symptoms can be relieved by simple
measures such as massage, relaxation techniques, and distraction
through arts and other activities.
The Highest Respect for Each Individual
Hospice care also tends to spiritual needs. Since people have
different spiritual needs and religious beliefs, spiritual care
is set up to meet those specific needs. It may include helping a
patient to look at what death means to them, helping say
goodbye, or helping with a certain religious ceremony or ritual.
Family members can stay informed about a patient’s condition and
what to expect through family conferences, often led by the
hospice nurse or social worker. Family conferences also give
everyone a chance to share feelings, talk about expectations,
and learn about the process of dying and death. Family members
can find great support and stress relief through these family
conferences. Support may also be done informally on a daily
basis as the nurse or nursing assistant talks with the patient
and caregivers during their routine visits.
Assurety's Quality of Hospice Care
The spirit of everyone at Assurety is to encourage quality of life for patients and their families. Because of this enduring philosophy, pain and symptom control lie at the very heart of our hospice program of care.
Please contact us for more information. We understand your situation, as stressful as it may be, and we are here to answer any and all questions.