Choosing the Right Hospice Agency: What Families in Upland Should Know

A family member entering hospice care represents a massive transitional period in the family dynamic.

Many families struggle with feeling as though hospice care represents giving up on their family member. They fear that entering hospice is admitting defeat, or somehow abandoning their family member.

Fortunately these perspectives are limited in their accuracy. There is no guarantee that a patient who enters hospice care cannot recover and later return to normal life, and there is certainly no reason why family and friends cannot continue to surround the patient with love and support.

Entering hospice just means ensuring a level of care that ensures the patient’s comfort under continued treatment, and removing a substantial amount of the burden of care from both the patient and their family and friends.

If your family member has been informed by their physician that they qualify for hospice care, it’s time to start considering where to seek care.

Selecting the right hospice agency is an important step to ensure that your family member will receive the right level of care, in a convenient location where both the hospice team and the patient’s personal support system are all readily available.

Where Hospice Care Takes Place

Some people think of hospice and imagine a hospital or nursing home setting. While many agencies do provide hospice care at inpatient facilities, it often is not the ideal setting.

Many patients report that they are most comfortable and have the best outcomes receiving hospice care in their own homes. A hospice agency that is equipped to provide all needed care at the patient’s own home is often the ideal solution.

This hospice agency will have mobile equipment that can easily be brought to the patient’s bedside, along with caregivers who are trained to work in varied environments to ensure the comfort of the patient.

And other needed care for each patient’s individuals needs can be coordinated with the hospice care team to ensure that there are no gaps in treatment and care.

Who Provides Hospice Care

It is vital to ensure that the hospice agency employs compassionate, kind individuals who truly care about their patients’ comfort.

Equally important is ensuring that these caregivers are fully qualified to meet the medical and physical needs of their patients.

When choosing a hospice agency, also ask about coordinating some aspects of care with the family. Your loved one may be more comfortable if certain tasks for their health continue to be performed by their family; discussing this preference with the hospice care team up front will help to smooth the transition.

And the needs of the patient may change and fluctuate over time, leading to changes in the care plan. Maybe now the patient needs minimal assistance with certain hygiene tasks and doesn’t want to involve strangers, while in a few months the needed assistance will be more involved and the help of a professional will be needed and welcomed.

A hospice agency with a staff of people who listen and care is a vital link between the patient, the care they need, and the respect they deserve.

The Patient Comes First

When it comes to entering hospice care, nothing can put the family and loved ones at ease better that the knowledge that the patient will be in capable hands who prioritize their comfort, dignity and health.

No one wants to see their loved one made vulnerable to uncaring and unethical personnel.

At the same time, as the patient’s condition progresses, it can be very stressful for family to continue to try to meet all of their medical and personal needs.

They may feel overwhelmed and inadequate to the many tasks involved in dealing with terminal illness.

In these situations, the right hospice care agency can be a blessing to everyone involved.

The patient will begin to recieve their needed treatments and comfort care in their own home instead of being dragged to a hospital multiple times per week, and the family can turn their focus to providing emotional help and support rather than having their energy squandered on the myriad tasks of continuing care.

Coordinated in home care is a wonderful option for many patients and their families. Find a local hospice agency and discuss care options for your family member today.