What Services are Provided with Hospice Care?
Unlike many areas of healthcare, hospice utilizes a team of professionals and volunteers to provide care that is palliative, holistic and supportive. In a collaborative effort with the individual’s attending physician, hospice care encompasses the needs of both patients and those supporting them.
Comprehensive care provided by the hospice team may include:
• Professional nursing staff on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Intermittent visits by a hospice nurse
• Personal care assistance by a home health aide
• Hospice medical director consultation
• Support for emotional and practical issues by a social worker
• Support for spiritual issues by a hospice chaplain
• Medical equipment and medications for the management of pain and symptoms
• Assistance, support and companionship by trained volunteers
• Consultation and support in areas of nutritional counseling, physical therapy,
• occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, speech therapy and audiology
• Bereavement and grief counseling by a qualified counselor
How are Referrals Made?
Although a physician is required to admit someone into hospice services, referrals may be made by anyone familiar with the individual, including family members, friends, healthcare providers, social service agencies, or individuals themselves.
Upon inquiry, a hospice professional will meet with anyone interested in learning more about our extensive services. This informational visit will be scheduled at the convenience of the patient or caregivers and is a free service.
For more information or to schedule a visit, please call:
(518) 725-4545 or (866) 944-0108.
Who is Appropriate for Hospice Services?
Hospice is specialized healthcare focusing on pain and symptom management of life-limiting illnesses. Care focuses on the aggressive treatment of the illnesses’ effects. To be eligible for hospice care:
• An individual must be diagnosed with any life-limiting illness, which may include cancer, heart disease, lung disease, kidney/liver failure, stroke, coma, ALS, or dementia/Alzheimer’s to name a few.
• A physician must agree that the individual has a life expectancy that is limited
by the illness and must agree to manage the individual’s care while receiving hospice services.
In addition to being diagnosed with a life-limiting illness, individuals appropriate for hospice care may be experiencing any of the following:
• Significant, ongoing weight loss
• Pain requiring increasing doses of pain medication
• Difficulty with daily activities requiring more assistance
• Increasing emergency room visits, hospitalizations and physician office visits
• Multiple complex medical conditions
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