November is Hospice and Palliative Care Awareness month.
Every year 1.58 million people living with a life-threatening illness received care from hospice/palliative care providers in the U.S.
As a volunteer at Good Samaritan Hospice, I would like to use this opportunity to explain some of the benefits of hospice care. Hospice care is usually provided in the home — wherever the patient calls home.
Hospice care provides pain management, symptom control, support, and spiritual care for patients and their families when a cure is not possible.
Hospice care is fully covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance.
Hospice is not limited to six months of care and is certainly not a brink of death care intended for the last days of life only. Hospice is most effective when we have months and not days to support patients and families at the end of life. It’s not giving up, it’s not the last resort, it’s choosing the fullest life in the time remaining.
Anyone can contact Good Samaritan to learn if hospice care is right for them or their loved one.
Judy Allen
Volunteer
Good Samaritan Home Care and Hospice
Brainerd
