From Gordon Associates – we are pleased to post this guest blog from Ellen Lerner with Accord Hospice.
This blog covers an important topic we’re hearing more and more about. We hope you find it valuable.
What is Hospice Care? Hospice is a type of specialized care designed for people who are in the final stages of a terminal illness usually with 6 months or less to live. The focus is on improving quality of life rather than curative treatment. Hospice care provides comfort care and emotional support not only for the patient but also for their families. Hospice is offered at home, in independent, assisted living and memory care communities, along with nursing homes and hospitals. The goal of hospice is to ensure dignity during the dying process.
Hospice Offers a Familiar Environment
While hospice is sometimes provided in nursing homes, assisted living, and memory care units, it can also be provided in the comfort of the patient’s home. The focus is on finding a place that is calm, quiet and very different from the typical stressful buzzing of a hospital. Hospice care is a collaborative effort between the patient, the family, the hospice team and the doctor to impart a care regimen that benefits everyone.
Hospice Provides a Comprehensive Plan
The key to providing comfortable care is to have a plan that involves a team of medical and health care professionals, who address all aspects of a patient’s illness with importance on controlling and reducing pain and discomfort. You will be working with doctors, nurses, therapists, health care aides, clergy, social workers, etc. It is not mandatory to change out the doctors you currently see.
Hospice Offers Personalized Care and Support
Hospice care eases family anxiety, as hospice professionals are on-call 24 hours, allowing the family to rest in between visits.
Hospice Gives Patients a Sense of Dignity
Hospice offers a chance to die with dignity. You do not go back and forth to a hospital anymore. You do not need to be poked and prodded or woken up every hour to take more tests.
Hospice Respects a Patient’s Wishes
This is an essential element of hospice care. By placing a loved one in hospice, families can focus on spending time with the patient and not dealing with the extensive procedures of a hospital environment.
Hospice Provides Family Counseling
Guidance and support are a necessary piece of the puzzle. Hospice helps families deal with a range of emotions that surround this difficult time, offering guidance from social workers and chaplains. In addition, hospice will also offer the family bereavement and grief counseling after their loved one has passed as well as help with some of the after-death tasks that need to be completed.
Hospice Lessens Financial Burdens
For many families, hospital bills can be overwhelming. Under hospice supervision, out-of-pocket costs are significantly reduced, and Medicare, Medicaid and private insurances help cover hospice care.
If someone is dealing with a serious or terminal illness but does not want hospice care, there are several other care options depending on their needs and goals. There is Palliative care, which focuses on symptom management that can be provided alongside curative treatments. One can choose Home Health Care, which is assistance with nursing care, physical, occupational, and speech therapy. For those who need more intensive medical care, and do not wish to participate in hospice, they can choose a skilled nursing facility with round-the-clock care. Some families choose to provide care at home with the help of private caregivers or visiting nurses. While others opt to remain in the hospital for ongoing treatment and monitoring.
Ellen Lerner is the Community Outreach Liaison for Accord Hospice. Accord Hospice is a small, boutique-type hospice in Deerfield. We are privately owned by two women, who began their business venture in 2012. Accord strives to give high quality, comfort and personalized care. Our services include music therapy, chaplain services, massage therapy, pet therapy, social workers, CNA’s, and Nursing care as well as volunteers. Ellen has been with Accord Hospice for 9 years and has over 25 years of healthcare experience. She holds two Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Gerontology from the University of Kansas. She also received a Masters in Social Work from Loyola University in Chicago. Ellen has always enjoyed her relationship with her grandparents and older adults. She had two grandmothers on hospice, and one was on Accord Hospice prior to her working for them. The Accord Hospice model of concierge type care, educating families along with the exemplary care team are what inspired her to join their organization.
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To help determine if long-term care (LTC) insurance is right for you, we are offering a FREE informational guide. This is a comprehensive booklet that will answer many of your questions about tax breaks and incentives for LTCI for federal and state taxes.