Hospice Care is a Gift for the Living

Hospice Care. If you’re not familiar with them, the words might not mean much to you. Or perhaps they send shudders down your spine since you know they deal with death and dying. Really though, hospice is about living. It’s about living peacefully while God allows you to finish your time here on earth, before He takes you gently home. It’s about support for the patient and the patient’s family. It’s about encouragement, assistance, and caring.

I have dealt personally with a hospice group for my sweet dad who was able to remain at home for his final two months. He had always dreaded the thought of a nursing home. He also feared going through what he watched a dear friend suffer by having to go back and forth to the hospital in the traditional way of years past. He didn’t want tubes in his nose, nor did he want extraordinary measures. He just wanted to stay home and be surrounded by those who loved him. Hospice made that possible.

As part of the palliative care, they provided for a nurse to come regularly to check on his condition. They provided an aide twice a week to bathe him and help us with the personal needs she had. They were available on-call for information and advice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They made sure he had enough medicine to not suffer. When one of the medications caused a bad reaction, they were there immediately to help figure out what was wrong and make the necessary changes.

A social worker was also provided. This woman came out and explained what was going on, gave all the options available to our family, and willingly did research for us if we had any questions she couldn’t answer.

They walked us through every step, patiently and gently. They knew that just starting the process is very difficult emotionally, for both patient and family. They were there for us and we were so grateful.

A few years later, my girlfriend went through a similar process with hospice. The main difference was that her mom was already living in an assisted care facility. Her mom was able to stay where she was and hospice came in and worked with the family and the staff to provide for the needs they had. Again, she saw numerous examples of them going out of their way to help.

I know that no one is perfect, but I do think that the vast majority of people who choose to work for palliative care and hospice are very special people working hard to provide a precious gift to all of us. The gift of helping those who are dying to live their last days here on earth as positively as possible. And the gift of kind and gentle support to a scared and worried family who loves the patient. For that we are so very thankful.

Tagged as: death and dying, elderly parents, end of life care, hospice care, Palliative care, senior home care