For Patients and Families
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Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you've come to the right place! We have created this website as a family caregiver resource, to help the seriously ill and their families learn how to live as comfortably as they can within the context of their disease. Whether you need tips on handling the medical and physical aspects of care (e.g., pain management, nutrition and eating), are concerned about emotional or spiritual issues (e.g., grief, hope, family conflict), or simply want to know about important legal and financial decisions, seriousillness.org/swmichigan is the place to turn. We even have a listing of local, state, and national programs that offer services and support.
It's true. Caring for an ailing family member can be one of the saddest and most difficult experiences in a family's history together. Yet, it can also be one of a family's most fulfilling, meaningful, and intimate experiences. A lot of love, and even laughter, can be shared as the patient and family learn to live fully now while preparing for tomorrow. It's a balancing act, to be sure. But with education and support, you can enhance the quality of all the time you have left together, whether it's years, months, weeks, or days.
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to call us at 800-717-3811 (toll-free) or email us at info@hospiceathomecares.org. We'd be honored to help!
Hospice Care Helps Patients and Families Focus on Living
Hospice care helps patients and families focus on living. This is the message that Hospice at Home is sharing with the community during National Hospice/Palliative Care Month. However, this important message lasts beyond the month of November and is important all year round.
“November is a valuable time to raise awareness throughout our community about care at the end of life,” said Linda Beushausen, Hospice at Home President/CEO. “But the time a family might need us doesn’t follow a calendar or occur only during this season, so our message must make an impression that stays with people all year long.”
Every November hospices across the country reach out to raise awareness of the compassionate care that hospice and palliative care provide patients and families coping with serious and life-limiting illness.
The hospice team provides expert medical care to keep patients comfortable and able to enjoy time with loved ones. The hospice team answers questions, offers advice on what to expect, and helps families with the duties of being a caregiver. The team also provides emotional and spiritual support for the entire family.
“With the help of hospice, patients and families alike can focus on what’s most important – enjoying life together and living the final seasons to their fullest,” said Beushausen. “It’s about the quality of life.”
“There’s an inaccurate perception among the American public that hospice means you’ve given up,” said J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. “Those of us who have worked in the field have seen firsthand how hospice and palliative care can improve the quality of life. And there’s a growing body of research showing that hospice and palliative care may prolong the lives of some people who receive care.”
More than 1.56 million patients receive care from the nation’s hospices every year, reports the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. Recent research has demonstrated the hospice and palliative care can save the Medicare system money, increase the life of patients, and increase caregiver satisfaction. Research and hospice facts are available on the National Hospice and Palliative Care website.
Hospice at Home is the non-profit community hospice focusing on the patient and family regardless of the patients' diagnosis, treatment choices, or ability to pay. It provides quality care to people adjusting to living with a serious illness, facing death, anticipating the death of a loved one, or healing their grief after the death of a loved one. Hospice at Home places an emphasis on the emotional, social, and spiritual needs of those whom need care and those receiving support services. Serving Berrien, Cass, Van Buren, and Allegan Counties, the care is coordinated by a team of physicians, nurses, home health aides, social workers, spiritual care counselors, bereavement coordinators, and trained volunteers. Extending this care, Lory’s Place, a bereavement and education center that builds hope and strength for every grieving family, is available to anyone in Southwest Michigan or Northern Indiana.
For more information about hospice and/or palliative care, and how they can help your family, contact Hospice at Home at 269-429-7100 or 1-800-HOSPICE or go to www.hospiceathomecares.org.
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