When seniors are seriously ill and close to the end of life, they may find themselves facing a variety of complications that send them to the hospital for treatments and even emergency stays. This can be chaotic and upsetting, not to mention deeply uncomfortable for the person receiving care. For many patients, avoiding frequent hospitalizations is one of the appealing benefits of hospice care. This type of care helps patients to be more comfortable in their preferred care settings, which are often at home instead of in a hospital.
Comfort and Quality of Life
Hospice care moves the focus of care from curative treatments to care that is more comfort-centered. This type of care involves prioritizing quality of life, including emotional and spiritual well-being rather than just physical wellness. This approach is especially helpful when aggressive medical treatments aren’t working any longer and are creating more problems than they’re solving.
Anticipating Complications
Because hospice focuses more on comfort, it’s a more proactive type of care. Hospice care providers work closely with medical providers, patients, and family members to manage symptoms before they become an emergency situation. This helps greatly when seniors want to avoid returning to the hospital.
Promoting a Family Approach
Hospice care encourages family members to stay involved in their senior’s care. This type of care offers information and resources that help family members to have what they need in order to be there for the people they love. Hospice can typically handle the hands-on care needs, allowing family members to be freed up to focus on emotional support.
Enhancing Quality Time
When seniors aren’t heading back to the hospital constantly, it’s easier for them to spend quality time with the people they love. They remain in the comfort of their own home, with necessary medical procedures happening right there. Because the focus is on comfort and managing symptoms, the environment is calmer and it’s easier for hospice providers to help patients avoid the types of crises that might send them to the hospital.
Supporting End-of-life Wishes
Hospice providers do everything possible to support and honor the end-of-life wishes that their patients express. Sometimes seniors don’t know how they want their final days to go, and hospice can help families work through those difficult conversations together. Seniors and family members can put together a plan for those final days that feels right for them.
Offering Peace of Mind for Families
Everyone wants to know that their aging family members are being taken care of in a compassionate and empathetic way, especially at the end of life. Hospice ensures that families have the support and resources they need to spend the time their senior has left in the most positive way possible. Afterward, hospice care can offer additional resources related to grieving and recovery.
Spending the time they have left in and out of the hospital is something that so many people at the end of life want to avoid if they can. Hospice care can do a lot to honor those wishes and help patients avoid crisis hospitalizations.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hospice care in Dover, MA, please contact the caring staff at PlatinumCare + today. Call (617) 237-0867.
PlatinumCare + was born out of the desire and passion to provide the very best home health care possible in Brookline, Dover, Newton, Needham, Watertown, Weston, Cambridge, Lincoln, Sudbury, Belmont, Boston MA, and surrounding areas.
All with decades of experience, Tim in IT Operations, Support, and Management, Brenda in Client Relations, Healthcare Services & Sales Management, and Anne in Healthcare as a Nurse Practitioner combined their skills to form what is now PlatinumCare +.
As immigrants to the US, all came from backgrounds where Healthcare for aging parents was a responsibility of the immediate family and the entire community. Aging, sick, or terminal community members were cared for physically, emotionally, and financially by family, friends, including strangers! This community approach, Healthcare with a difference, delivered with the utmost love, care, sacrifice, and passion, forms the basis of how PlatinumCare + grounds itself.
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