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Facility and Home Care That Focuses on Quality of Life
Hospice of Orange and Sullivan Counties provides care in the home, nursing home, hospital, adult care facility, or the Kaplan Family Hospice Residence. We offer palliative care (comfort care) rather than curative treatment with an approach that focuses on relieving and preventing suffering in all areas of a patient’s life. Hospice care is provided through an interdisciplinary, medically directed team. This team approach to care typically includes a physician, a nurse, a home health aide, a social worker, a chaplain, and a volunteer. This multidisciplinary approach allows the palliative care team to address physical, emotional, spiritual, and social concerns with advanced illness.
“I wish I had chosen hospice care sooner.”
Unfortunately, this is a common sentiment expressed by hospice patients, families, and caregivers. So, if you are asking yourself if it’s the right time to choose hospice care, the answer is likely yes.
Hospice is a special kind of care for anyone living with a severe illness diagnosed with six months or less to live by their doctor or specialist. For example, you are hospice care appropriate if you or a loved one is living with heart disease, liver disease or kidney disease, ALS, COPD, stroke, dementia, or another illness.
Many who receive specialized hospice care early in the process of a life-limiting illness often improve temporarily, able to experience the benefits of pain relief, symptom management, and comfort care to ease anxiety, depression, and fatigue. This kind of care offers a better quality of life for our patients and caregivers.
Home Health Care Nurses On Call 24-Hours a Day
The hospice nurse makes regularly scheduled visits to the patient providing expert pain management and symptom control techniques. Throughout the time that the patient is under the care of hospice, the nurse keeps the primary physician informed of the patient’s condition.
Nurses provide the complete spectrum of skilled nursing care and are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to answer any questions, provide support or make emergency visits.
Hospice care includes:
- A registered nurse visits once or twice a week with a focus on comfort care
- Pain and symptom management
- Patient/family instructions on care
- All medicines related to the advanced illness are covered by Hospice
- Medical equipment, bed, oxygen, wheelchair, commode, nebulizer, suction, etc.
- Certified Social Workers visit once or twice a month
- Spiritual care
- Home health aide services as needed and when available
- Bereavement support, available to general public free of charge
- Volunteer services to patients/families
