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5498 POPLAR AVENUE | SUITE 3 | Memphis, TN 38119
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hospice care

How Senior Care works with Hospice Care

What is Hospice?

Many people simply have no idea. Some people are frightened by even the mention of the word because of it’s correlation to death and the process of dying. Let me do my best to explain hospice on behalf of our friends and colleagues in the hospice ministry. I say ministry because, like many of us in the senior industry, it’s a calling.

Hospice is ordered by a doctor for a patient who has an end-stage terminal diagnosis.

Cancer, congestive heart failure, COPD, or late stage Alzheimer’s Disease are typical diseases that can no longer be treated. Often, patients are on hospice care for several months and on occasion begin to heal on their own and are discharged from hospice care. Most commonly, however, a patient can no longer be effectively treated, and the most sensible solution is to let the individual live out their remaining days, weeks, or months free of pain. Patients often go home or to a facility to be as comfortable as possible.

Hospice nurses come in several times per week and administer pain medication and check vital signs. Aides come in once or twice a week and help with bathing and personal care. Volunteers may come in on occasion to help with incidental tasks. There is bereavement support and counseling from the chaplain. The people that work in hospice see those on the precipice of death and therefore see those individuals and their families doing what we all should be doing: offering gratitude for those that matter to us and giving thanks for every second of time we have on Earth.

If you’ve ever been a part of this process with a family member or loved one, you know how powerful it is.

I believe it’s why hospice professionals can do what they do, because it is such a truly beautiful experience despite the impending death that awaits.

How does Senior Care help?

Once a doctor has ordered hospice care, there are a multitude of non-medical tasks to be accomplished by the family:
  • Diaper changing
  • Bed bathing
  • Linen changes
  • Laundry
  • Patient transfer from bed to chair or wheelchair (if possible)
  • Feeding
  • Grooming
  • Meal preparation
  • Light housekeeping
  • Shopping/errands

These tasks are often impossible for the grieving family to accomplish. And although the hospice company will give baths and help with personal care issues when they are on site, they simply cannot be there every hour of every day.

A planned schedule with a caregiving agency like Senior Care Management Solutions can help the family and the patient meet these needs when the hospice professionals are not on site.

We have caregivers that specialize in end of life care that will go the extra mile to work in conjunction with the hospice professionals to keep your loved one safe, comfortable and clean in the hour of their greatest need.

Please feel free to contact us at Senior Care Management Solutions with any questions about hospice care companies in the area.

Have a friend or loved on who may be a candidate for hospice soon? We can help you put a plan in place that fits your schedule so that you may get the best and most effective help during this challenging time.

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