If you are caring for a loved one, and their doctor has recommended hospice care, you may wonder about what that means. According to Healthline, hospice care is given to clients whose doctors have determined their illnesses are likely to cause the end of their lives within the next six months. Although there is often a link between assisted living and hospice care, not all hospice clients live at an assisted living facility.
When the doctor prescribes hospice care, a hospice nurse will go to that client’s home and examine them to determine their eligibility for hospice. Once the family selects hospice care, the hospice organization will provide a team of hospice workers who will visit the patient to provide care. All the medications, equipment, and staff visits from the hospice team are paid for by Medicare.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the goals of hospice services include providing care and comfort to the patient and family. In the initial days of hospice care, the patient and their family will be asked about any personal goals of hospice care. For example, some clients may want to participate in an upcoming family event, such as a wedding or graduation.
Here in the United States and all throughout the world, hospice care is hugely important. After all, hospice care has played a critical role in society for an incredibly long period of time, dating back as far as the 11th century. The first ever hospices were set up by the monks along the road to Jerusalem. In the years that have transpired since, hospice care has only become more and more prominent here in the United States as well as all throughout the world in its entirety. Fortunately, hospice care has been able to help a great many people as well, in part thanks to actions such as those of Frank Church and Frak E. Moss, two senators who introduced the very first legislation to provide funding for hospice programs, back in the year of 1974.
But why, exactly, is hospice care so hugely important? For one thing, it is primarily used by the elderly, who make up around 95% of all hospice patients. And the population of elderly people is one that is climbing tremendously – and set to continue to grow over the course of the years ahead of us. After all, the data that has been found on the subject is nothing but not convincing of this claim. This data shows that, by the time that the next ten years have elapsed, up to one fifth of the population of the United State’s alone will have reached or exceeded the age of 65, meaning that more people than ever will be in need of something like hospice care.
After all, the numbers of those receiving hospice care have already been found to be on the rise. In fact, the year of 2015 alone already showed very nearly one and a half million people receiving hospice care services. This showed tremendous growth from 15 years earlier, when only just over half of a millon patients were receiving hospice care. And in the years that have transpired since, the number of people in hospice care has only continued to grow, a trend likely to carry on in the years ahead of us.
But what exactly are the benefits of hospice care? The benefits of hospice care are certainly not in doubt, however, simply evidenced by the sheer numbers of people receiving these benefits of hospice care. But choosing to enter into hospice care is certainly something that can be nerve wracking – a difficult decision for many people. Therefore, understanding the benefits of hospice care and the hospice resources that are available can be very helpful indeed when it comes to making such a decision.
Fortunately, the benefits of hospice care are a considerable many. For instance, a loved one receiving hospice care will be under the watchful eye of hospice care workers up to 24 hours out of the day. This means that one of the benefits of hospice care, as this is, will ensure the safety and well being of yourself or your loved one as long as they or you continue to benefit from the hospice organization in question. For those who are no longer able to care for themselves, this is hugely important indeed.
Hospice care workers will also seek to provide for the needs of their patients all throughout the course of the day. For many hospice care worker, meeting the basic needs of their patients is a large part of the job. This means that someone who is no longer able to meet their own basic needs is likely to benefit from hospice care immensely. And for many people, one of the key benefits of hospice care will simply just be peace of mind, which can go a long way towards bettering overall quality of life itself, of this there is just no doubt. At the end of the day, it is very clear to see that the benefits of hospice care are a great many indeed. And more and more people are going to come to realize this in the years that are ahead of us, as the elderly population continues to grow and to swell.
All in all, the benefits of hospice care should not be overlooked by any means here in the United States.
