What is Hospice?
Considered to be the model for quality, compassionate care for people facing life-threatening illness or injury, hospice and palliative care involve a team-oriented approach to end-of-life medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the patient’s needs and wishes. Support is provided to the patient’s loved ones as well.
Hospice is a philosophy of caring for the terminally ill which:
- Seeks to enable patients to continue an alert, pain-free life
- Assists in managing symptoms to ensure dignity
- Affirms life and does not hasten or postpone death
- Treats the person rather than the disease
- Focuses on quality of life
- Promotes self-determination, as patients and their family make their own decisions
- Is available in homes, hospitals, nursing homes and inpatient facilities
- Provides a holistic approach, encompassing compassionate physical care, emotional and spiritual support
The focus of hospice relies on the belief that each of us has the right to die pain-free and with dignity, and that our loved ones will receive the necessary support to allow us to do so. The focus is on caring, not curing and in most cases, care is provided in the patient’s home.