I had an interesting conversation. I am doing some research on hospices and palliative care (for someone else, not me). I met with a social worker who used to work for a hospice. She was very helpful.
I had no idea how hospice care worked, especially at home. Basically hospice care includes palliative care. If you have hospice care at home everything comes to you. Doctors, nurses, social workers, and more. It lasts for up to six months. If, at the end of the six months you are still alive, you can be recertified for more hospice time (I think) unless you are too healthy and stable and then its back to reality.
Hospice care is also paid by medicare or medicaid unless you have long term care insurance. So think of it as free care when you are sickest and it all shows up at your house. If you are interested in hospice, its best to start research as soon as possible.
I found it very interesting how the process works. And learned that basically if you have been given less than six months to live, sign right up.
So from what I learned, when I get to that point in life (face it we are all going to get to that point in our lives), I will sign up for hospice.
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I don't know if your research revealed this or not but... when a person is appointed to hospice, your regular doctor(s) "sign off" on you and your care... and your care is taken over by the team of hospice doctors. You will no longer be given medications to overcome any ailments... only medications to keep you as comfortable as possible. Hospice is all about comfort and support... not treating anything in order to get you well again. My mother lived with us for 7 years, spending the last year of her life bed-bound here. She turned 90 years old during that last year. A lot of resources would have been opened up to us, to aid in caring for her, if her doctor had released her to hospice... but he didn't want to do that. He wasn't willing to sign off on her care himself and submit her to palliative care & treatment only. I respected his wishes and we simply dealt with what we had to deal with. So that's a huge component to hospice that I didn't see you mentioning & that most people don't know about. Blessings~ Andrea
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