When someone is facing a life-limiting illness, there are many challenges to overcome. When the time comes that medical treatments can no longer provide a cure and are depriving the patient of their dignity, comfort and overall quality of life, Acacia Hospice will provide the care, support and comfort you and your loved one deserve.
More Facts
For patients and their families, confronting a life-limiting illness can be extremely difficult. There may come a time when physicians can no longer offer options or treatments to provide a cure. This is the time to consider choosing palliative treatment versus continuing an ineffective curative treatment plan, which may in fact compromise quality of life and time spent with family.
The focus can then transition to making the patient feel as comfortable as possible. This is when hospice services offer patients, families and caregivers choices for symptom management. Patients and families can now establish a new goal which is to achieve the best possible quality of life. Hospice provides care in the patient’s own home, a nursing home, assisted living centers and memory care facilities.
Hospice care is beneficial for patients in the final stages of cancer; lung, heart or liver disease; dementia; Lou Gehrig’s disease; multiple sclerosis; Parkinson’s disease; stroke and AIDS.
Hospice accepts Medicare and Medicaid as 100% coverage for its care. There are no out-of-pocket expenses for the patient or their family. Most other insurance providers also pay for hospice services. In most cases, even individuals who do not have insurance are eligible for hospice care.
There are four levels of care hospice can provide, depending on the patient’s needs. Routine (at home) care; continuous care for acute symptom management (to prevent the patient from unnecessary hospitalization); respite care (to provide family/caregivers relief) and in-patient care (in a designated hospice unit) for uncontrolled symptom management that cannot be provided at home. All levels of care are covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
Hospice care is a family-centered approach that includes a team of professionals: the patient’s physician, hospice medical director, RNs, social workers, chaplains, a dietitian, counselors, therapists, home health aides and hospice-trained volunteers. The team works together by focusing on the patient’s and their family’s physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs, as well as providing needed medications, medical equipment and supplies.
There also is a year of continued support available for the family following the patient’s death. Grief counselors evaluate the family’s coping skills to determine what level of bereavement support is needed in that first year after their loss. Individual and group support is available.
When you choose Acacia Hospice, you are not giving up; you are giving the gift of physical, emotional and spiritual support with comfort and dignity. This is the true treatment plan that ensures quality of life at journey’s end.
What makes Acacia Hospice Different?
Not-for-profit organization supported by Masonic Charity Foundation
Bridge Program providing support services prior to hospice admission
Respite Care provided in private room in the beautiful Masonic Village
Easy referral through 24 hour a day on call nurse
RNs certified in Hospice and Palliative Care by NBCHPN
Alternate placement or continuum of care options in the Masonic Village if patient can no longer stay at home
Same day admission in most cases
Wound care specialist RN
Memorial services for families, caregivers and friends honoring their loved one at the Masonic Village Chapel
Integrated services, such as aromatherapy, music therapy, and massage therapy.
Your Questions Answered
Is Hospice a Place?
No. Hospice is a philosophy of care, not a place. Hospice care is provided in the comfort of an individual’s home or wherever a patient resides.
Does Hospice mean the patient will die soon?
Receiving hospice care does not mean giving up hope or that death is imminent. The earlier an individual receives hospice care, the more opportunity there is to stabilize a patient’s medical condition and address other needs. Hospice neither hastens nor postpones death.
When faced with a terminal illness, many patients and family members tend to dwell on the imminent loss of life rather than making the most of the life that remains. Hospice helps patients reclaim the spirit of life through pain management and control of symptoms. This can lead to opportunities for remembering special times, laughter, reunion and hope.
How do I handle feelings of guilt for not doing more?
Hospice is the one final gift you can give your loved one when curative medical treatment is no longer beneficial or realistic. This decision is only about the wishes and comfort of your loved one. If you ask anyone who has experienced hospice in their family, they will say, “We wish we had started hospice sooner.”
Is Hospice only for older people?
No. Hospice serves people of all ages when a cure is no longer possible and the patient’s doctor believes they have six months or less to live based on the medically historical disease process. Most commercial health insurance policies provide a hospice benefit similar to the Medicare Part A and Medicaid benefit.
What are some common Hospice diagnoses?
- Metastatic Malignancies
- End Stage Dementia
- End Stage Alzheimer’s Disease
- End Stage Cardiovascular Disease
- End Stage Congestive Heart Failure
- End Stage Chronic Obstructive
- Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- End Stage Cerebrovascular Disease (CVA)
- End Stage Renal Disease
- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
- Debility Unspecified
- Multi-System Failure
What are the common signs and symptoms indicating a patient may be ready for hospice?
- Progressive decline in clinical and functional status
- Recurrent or intractable serious infection (pneumonia, sepsis, pyelonephritis)
- Disabling dyspnea at rest
- Frequent hospitalizations/multiple ER visits
- Increased uncontrolled pain
- Oxygen dependent
- Unintentional weight loss of 10% over past 6 months
- Uncontrolled nausea, vomiting and diarrhea
- Intractable cough
- Decline in systolic blood pressure to below 90, or postural hypotension
- Edema
- Ascites
- Pleural / pericardial effusion
- Weakness; fatigue
- Life-limiting illness
(Prognoses of 6 months or less if a disease runs its normal course and palliative care has been chosen by the patient/and or family.)
Does Hospice provide 24 hour care?
Yes. The hospice team visits the patient intermittently and as needed, and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for support and visits. The hospice team does not provide 24 hours a day in person care.
Are all Hospice programs the same?
No. Acacia Hospice is a state licensed and Medicare-certified program. Therefore, we must provide certain services, but the range of supportive services and programs may differ. As a not-for-profit hospice, our revenue is used to provide patient care and community services; for-profit hospices are accountable to shareholders.
Do patients have to give up their own doctor?
No. Patients may keep their own physicians who works closely with the hospice medical director and team to plan and provide care.
How long can we receive Hospice care?
The Medicare and Medicaid benefit, as well as most insurances, pays for hospice care as long as the patient continues to meet the criteria for hospice care.
Who pays for Hospice?
Hospice care is 100% covered for all patients with Medicare Part A or Medicaid who, in the physician’s best judgement, have a life expectancy of six months or less if the disease runs its expected course. Many patients can continue to receive hospice care beyond that time with full coverage through recertification of the life-limiting illness and symptoms.
Acacia Hospice accepts Medicare and Medicaid as 100% coverage for care. There are no out-of-pocket expenses for the patient or the family. For private insurance coverage, Acacia Hospice will contact the insurer to verify coverage and benefits.