I will educate my loved one's medical professionals about hospice care

September 5, 2018

10:41 AM

LetsTalkHospice

Comments (2)

Hospice: a Need for Education

My mother had at home hospice care for the last year of her life. I was determined to keep her home for the entirely of her illness (Alzheimer's Disease) and because The Connecticut Hospice has an at home service, I was able to do so. My mother's nurse came once a week, more if I called with questions or concerns. We had 2 hours every morning of CNA help. The social worker kept up with me to make sure I was coping.

That said, not all hospice providers are equal. I reached out to three and the one that is for profit were rude and unhelpful. They were knocked out of the running immediately. As an end of life care business, if you cannot show compassion to people who call with questions, I am not going to trust you to show compassion for your clients.

People need also to be aware of non-hospice palliative care services which (as the name indicates) provide palliative care even though hospice is not (necessarily) indicated.

It was my mother's neurologist's office who first suggested my mother might be ready for hospice. I called her PCP at once and he set up an appointment with a third party nursing service for evaluation that same day.. From initial evaluation to intake to more equipment took less than three days. I've never seen the healthcare industry move so fast! But I understand that a lot of medical practitioners do not have the awareness of how hospice or palliative care works and they need to know.

Patricia C Vener-Saavedra more than 6 years ago

educate medical professionals

I so agree with you about education of medical professionals about hospice. My husband's primary doctor sort of laughed at me when I asked him (the doctor) about hospice, saying my husband wasn't ready for it. Thanks to a retired hospice chaplin friend of ours who urged me to contact hospice, my husband eventually qualified and things are so much easier for me, his caregiver.

Susan more than 4 years ago