What is Hospice and Palliative Care?

Hospice care is considered to be the model for quality, compassionate care for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury. Hospice and palliative care involves a team-oriented approach to provide comfort, expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support tailored to the patient's needs and wishes. Support is provided to the patient's loved ones as well. At the center of the philosophy of hospice and palliative care is the belief that each of us has the right to be pain-free and to live and die with dignity, and that our families are integral to providing support to allow us to do so.

Hospice focuses on comfort, not curing, and in most cases, care is provided in the patient's home. Hospice care also is provided in hospice care centers, hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other long-term care facilities. Hospice services are available to patients of any age, religion, race, or illness. Hospice care is covered under Medicare, Medicaid, and most private insurance plans.

Hospice care is palliative (comfort care) in nature. When the treatments that may help cure a disease bring extreme side effects or are not effective, hospice care is available to help. Hospice care is about choice: you can choose hospice care and you can choose to explore other options if circumstances change.

How does hospice care work?

Typically, a family member serves as the primary caregiver and, when appropriate, helps make decisions for the terminally ill individual. Members of the hospice staff make intermittent visits, beyond each person's needs, to assess the patient and provide additional care or other services. Hospice staff is on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The hospice team develops a care plan that meets each patient's individual needs for pain management and symptom control. Our care team consists of:

• The patient's personal physician
• Hospice physician (or medical director)
• Nurses
• Home Health Aides
• Social Workers / Counselors
• Chaplains
• Music Therapists
• Trained Volunteers
• Massage Therapists
• Speech, physical, and occupational therapists, if needed.

What services are provided?

Through the interdisciplinary team listed above, Hospice of Larimer County:

• Manages the patient's pain and symptoms
• Assists the patient with the emotional, psychosocial and spiritual aspects of dying
• Provides needed drugs, medical supplies, and equipment: related to the hospice diagnosis
• Supports the family on how to care for the patient
• Delivers special services like speech and physical therapy, music therapy and massage therapy, when needed
• Makes short-term inpatient care available when pain or symptoms become too difficult to manage at home, or the caregiver needs respite time
• Provides bereavement care and counseling to family and friends.