Hospice Care At Home In Walnut Creek City, California
Choosing hospice care allows you or a loved one to die in the comfort of their own home, surrounded by family, friends, pets and familiar possessions. Many individuals, however, are unfamiliar with the experience of getting hospice care at home. People who have overcome their fear of the unknown and experienced the benefits of hospice often wish they had contacted the organization sooner.
What Is Home Hospice?
When a doctor believes that your life expectancy is six months or less if your illness runs its course, at-home hospice care delivers care focused on comfort rather than cure. Hospice care is available in your home, a relative’s home or an assisted living or nursing home facility where you or a loved one resides. Your at-home hospice staff may recommend a short-term transfer to an inpatient hospice clinic if your pain or symptoms require more intensive treatment.
When you select at-home hospice care, you are choosing comfort, support and dignity for yourself or a loved one who is suffering from a terrible disease.
Dame Cicely Saunders said, “You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life.”
Hospice provides a team-based approach to skilled medical care, pain management and emotional as well as spiritual support that is specifically customized to the needs and wishes of you and your family. In addition to the team, each patient receives related medical equipment, supplies and drugs to ensure optimal comfort and quality of life.
During a terminal illness, you or your loved ones may consult with your doctor and decide that the treatments intended to cure or halt the disease are no longer effective or that you are ready to discontinue them. Hospice care, often known as end-of-life care, can be referred by your doctor.
You want pain, shortness of breath and other symptoms to go away so you can concentrate on the people and things that matter most to you. That’s when hospice, often known as end-of-life care, may come in convenience.
Some people mistakenly believe that getting hospice care means giving up. Others may be concerned that they will not receive the medical attention they require. However, rather of attempting to treat a condition, the care just concentrates on improving the quality of your life.
A doctor, nurse, social worker, counsellor, chaplain (if religious), home health aide and trained volunteers may be on the team. They collaborate to ensure that your physical, emotional and spiritual needs are met.
Hospice care is available to family members as well. It provides therapy as well as assistance with everyday tasks such as cleaning and shopping.
When Is It Possible To Begin Hospice Care?
If your doctor says you have a terminal illness and death is likely in 6 months or less, you can enroll in a hospice. If your doctor and the hospice team determines that you still have a short time to live, you can continue in hospice for longer.
If your kidneys are failing, for example, you may want to consider a hospice program rather than continuing dialysis. However, you still have the option to alter your mind, discontinue hospice care and resume therapy. Others may improve unexpectedly and choose to leave the program with the option of returning later.
Palliative care, on the other hand, is for everyone who is seriously ill, not simply people who are dying and no longer looking for a cure.
Should It Be Possible To Stay At Home?
Hospice provides four stages of care, two of which are provided at the patient’s home. The four levels are as follows:
Routine Home Care
Nursing and home health aide services are included in this level of hospice care, which is the most prevalent.
Continuous Home Care
This is when a patient needs round-the-clock nursing care during a medical emergency.
General Inpatient Care
Pain and discomfort that can’t be managed outside of a hospital setting are treated with short-term treatment.
Respite Care
is a term that refers to a period of time for Short-term care in a facility when the patient’s caregiver needs a break from caring for him or her.
You or a loved one may elect to stay somewhere where friends and family can come and go as they like. In fact, the majority of people opt for this choice. The primary caretaker is frequently a relative or acquaintance.
Hospice centers, hospitals, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities may also be able to assist you.
When selecting whether or not to stay at home, consider the following questions:
- How sick is the individual who needs help and how do they feel?
- Is it possible to treat pain outside of a hospital or nursing home?
- Is the primary caregiver physically and emotionally capable of meeting the needs at home?
- Can you afford to cut back on your hours at work or leave your job if you are a caretaker?
- Will you be able to obtain additional items, such as a bedside commode or a wheelchair, if necessary?
Your choice is personal and each circumstance is unique. However, how you respond to questions like these will aid you in deciding where to go.
A hospital bed, an oxygen machine, or a wheelchair — whatever equipment is required — is normally brought in by hospice agencies. Prescriptions for pain and anxiety arrive at the residence. However, hands-on assistance is uncommon. Hospice benefits may include home health aides and homemaker services, according to Medicare. In practice, though, in-person assistance is usually restricted to a handful of baths per week. According to Medicare data, a nurse or assistant spends about 30 minutes each day in the home of a patient.
The Advantages Of Getting Hospice Care At Home
Families can do the following:
Maintain A Sense Of Familiarity In Your Surroundings
You can sit on your own couch and use your own bathroom when you use in-home hospice. The comforts of home are invaluable when you’re dealing with a serious illness or caring for someone who is.
Spend Quality Time With Loved Ones
During this period, it’s crucial to make new memories and share feelings, emotions and the words that need to be uttered. At home, you and your family will have more opportunity for conversation, memory-making projects and other bonding activities that feel natural and important to you.
Expert Care Will Be Provided By Trained Professionals
Hospice takes care of your physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs as you and your family define them. The goal is to give you or a loved one the best possible quality of life. The key to offering such assistance is to assemble a broad team of professionals that can answer all of your requirements. Physicians, nurses, social workers, spiritual support counsellors, health care aides, respite and companionship volunteers and others make up the team. Each team member has received training in providing comforting end-of-life care.
Regular Visits Are Required
Depending on the patient’s and family’s needs, members of the hospice team will visit you and your family on a frequent basis. You and your family may set a schedule and a care plan that is less physically and emotionally taxing without the disruption of unscheduled trips to the emergency room or re-admissions to the hospital.
Expert Explanations Will Be Provided
: Your in-home hospice team consists of experts in end-of-life care. You’ll get answers to all of your questions, as well as questions you didn’t even know to ask, with each visit or phone conversation. They’ll walk you through caregiving, support your emotions, prepare you for what’s next, assist with explaining what’s going on in the family to children in age-appropriate ways, assist with delicate family dynamics and offer guidance on planning funeral arrangements and meaningful memorial services, to name a few.
Maintain The Dignity Of Their Loved One
A natural death is viewed as part of the circle of life by hospice. Hospice can assist you or a loved one in living out their final months and moments with dignity. You are not spending days in the emergency room or the intensive care unit. You won’t be poked and prodded by medical personnel on a regular basis and you won’t be subjected to invasive surgeries or aggressive therapies that may or may not be beneficial in extending your life. You will be kept clean, comfortable and pain-free as much as possible.
Utilize Medicaid, Medicare And Private Insurance Coverage
For many families, medical expenditures at the end of life can be overwhelming. However, if your loved one is receiving hospice care, your out-of-pocket expenses may be paid entirely or greatly reduced. Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance policies cover hospice care. It’s a good idea to find out the scope of your hospice coverage from your insurance carrier before your family is in a crisis. Furthermore, many hospices would not turn away a medically qualified patient due to a lack of financial resources or insurance coverage.
Medical Supplies, Equipment And Medications Can Be Delivered Right To Your Door
Your hospice will send a hospital bed, oxygen, medical supplies or medications linked to your hospice disease to your door at no charge to you. This saves you time and stress by eliminating the need to look for reliable sources, place orders or conduct additional visits for these essential things.
Get Help From A Home Health Aide
In-home hospice care involves visits from qualified home health aides, which comes as a comfort to many overburdened family caregivers by certified home health aides (CHHA). The CHHA assists the patient with personal care such as bathing, grooming and light meal preparation. The CHHA can also teach family members how to care for their loved ones and keep them comfortable. This dignified personal care is a much-appreciated service in the quiet of your own home.
Make A Request For Volunteer Visits
A trained volunteer is part of the hospice team and is available for companionship, chatting, reading, playing cards and sharing stories, among other things. This caring visitor can provide joy to the patient while also providing much-needed relief to the family caregivers.
Personalize Their Support
Hospice focuses on your unique needs and preferences, offering everything from companionship to spiritual support to the fulfilment of hopes and goals. Hospice allows you and your family to spend each day concentrating on the things that are most important to you.
Get Support From Family Members During And After A Loved One's Illness
Hospice provides counselling from social workers and chaplains to assist families cope with this tough time. We’re still here for you after the death of a loved one. Inquire about the bereavement services offered by your preferred hospice. Many assist families in performing the duties that must be completed immediately following the death of a loved one; others provide individual grief counselling, grief-specific support groups and other useful resources.
It can be difficult to distinguish between home care, palliative care, and hospice care at home, so if you need assistance determining which choice is best for your loved one, don’t hesitate to call us at 1- 888 635-6347