Signs that it Might be Time for Hospice San Diego Care : If you or a loved one is suffering from terminal illness and you have used up all treatment options, you might want to consider Hospice San Diego care. This article will attempt to educate you on how hospice care works, and how it can provide patients with the comfort and support they need.
First things first…
What is Hospice Care?
Hospice care is for terminally ill people—those who are nearing the end of their life. The services provided in a hospice are administered by health care professionals. These people will make sure to maximize comfort for terminally ill patients by reducing their pain and attending to their physical, mental, psychological, social, and spiritual needs. Hospice San Diego care also helps the patient’s families and loved ones by providing counseling, respite care, and practical support.
Compared to other types of medical care, hospice doesn’t focus on curing the underlying disease. Instead, the goal is to provide patients with the highest quality of life for the remainder of their life.
Who Benefits from Hospice Care?
Hospice care are for terminally ill patients who only have six months or less to live. However, hospice care can be provided so long as the doctor and the hospice care team can confirm that the patient’s condition remains life-limiting.
Most people who have received hospice care have cancer, whereas others suffer from dementia, kidney failure, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Signing up for hospice San Diego care early helps patients live better and longer. Hospice care also lessens the burden on family members, and lessens the chances of families having complicated grief, and prepares them for their loved one’s death. Furthermore, hospice allows patients to be cared for at a facility for a period of time, to give the family or caregiver a break. This is what we call respite care.
Where do Patients Receive Hospice Care?
Most hospice care is given at home—where a family member usually acts as a caregiver. But hospice care can also be provided at hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and dedicated hospice facilities such as Hospice San Diego.
Regardless of where hospice care is provided, it is sometimes necessary to be taken to a hospital. For example, if a symptom can’t be controlled by the hospice care team in a home setting, it might be necessary for a patient to stay in the hospital instead.
Is It Time to be Admitted to Hospice Care?
Most of us think that we’ll always have a little more time with our aging parents or loved ones. Medical treatments may offer a sliver of hope for our parents or loved ones in the late stage of a serious condition, but this can only take us so far.
Below are signs that it may be time to admit a patient for hospice care:
- Frequent trips to the hospital or the ER
- Infections that reoccur or flare up again
- Less desire to eat, resulting to significant weight loss and changes in body composition
- Rapid health decline in the last six months, despite vigorous medical treatments
- Uncontrollable pain, nausea, vomiting and/or shortness of breath
- Increased sleeping or mental confusion, decrease in alertness levels, withdrawal
- Incapacity to perform day-to-day tasks such as walking, standing, eating, using the bathroom, bathing, personal hygiene, or getting dressed
- Decision to focus on improving the quality of life, rather than undergo aggressive treatments.
Where to Get Started
Most of the time patients say that quality of life is more important than how long they’ll live. One important thing to do is to have clear and honest conversations about the kind of care you want. If you’re the patient, talk to your family, your doctor, and people you trust. Enrolling yourself to hospice care doesn’t mean you’re giving up. It simply means you’re focusing on your needs so you can have the best quality of life possible for the remainder of your days.
- Finding the Right Care
Making a decision related to your medical needs during times of urgency can be quite stressful. Take some time off to think about your needs and goals first. Once you have a better understanding of your own priorities, you can confidently share them to your healthcare providers. - Benefits and Insurance Coverage
Coverage includes nurses, caregivers, medicine, medical supplies and medical equipment. There are also no out-of-pocket expenses for the hospice diagnosis.Under Medicare, hospice eligibility requires that an individual qualifies for Medicare Part A and a doctor establishes life expectancy in roughly 6 months or less, if the terminal illness/ condition takes its natural course. Patients must do without treatment for their condition, but they can continue other types of medical treatments.If patients have a Medicare Advantage Plan and enrolls in hospice care, they can receive care through Medicare Part A. You don’t have to drop your Medicare Advantage plan with this. - VA Benefits
Part of the Veterans Administration Benefits package is the end-of-life care. Hospice-related expenses and enrolled veterans are covered at 100%.
Starting, Stopping, or Transferring Hospice Care
No matter how good hospice care might seem, no one wants to enroll too early. Remember you have the option to discontinue hospice and restart curative care any time you want. You also have the choice to transfer to a new care provider.
Options for Palliative Care
If you’re looking to reduce or relieve symptoms, side effects or anxiety of a serious condition, then palliative care is the choice for you. Patients do not have to stop any curative medical treatments. They receive care to reduce pain, other symptoms, and, in some cases, the crippling side effects of medical treatments.
Palliative care sometimes includes goals of care conversations and advanced care planning to provide patients with an idea of future healthcare decision-making that can reduce stress on them and their family.
Getting Started with Hospice or Palliative Care
If you must immediately receive hospice or palliative care, go online and check the nearest care providers near you. Hospice San Diego and their team of professionals work directly with families and other healthcare professionals on a customized care plan. They bring hospice care wherever the patient needs—in a private home, nursing home, or a long-term care facility.
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