When doctors begin to practice medicine they are in the mindset of saving lives. Sadly, there are instances that no matter how hard a doctor tries to save a patient’s life, it does not work out. This is when medical professionals have to tell the awful news that nothing can be done.
In some instances, the doctor can make a referral to the hospice in Los Angeles Ca in the early stages, which gives the patient some additional care in their own home and their family can receive extra support.
However, ever now and then, doctors encounter hurdles when it comes to referring patients to hospice care centers in Los Angeles since many families don’t know about what support is available. Read below to understand just some of the obstacles doctors may have and some ways to triumph over them.
How Can A Hospice In Los Angeles Ca Help?
One of the most substantial hurdles to hospice is just a scarce understanding of what a hospice actually is. It is a common belief for many families to consider a hospice as an available service only until the patient’s final days of life. As a matter of fact, patients are eligible for hospice when their Los Angeles doctor ascertains that the patient will pass away in six months or less.
Furthermore, families do not realize how much support they would get. When a patient goes into hospice, they get visits throughout the week from a nurse, however, also from an aide, a social worker, a chaplain, and a bereavement coordinator.
Additionally, volunteers visit patients to offer companionship and to give the family some respite. This team of very well trained and experienced volunteers meet every two weeks to talk about his or her care plan with the hospice’s medical director to make sure the patient is getting the best care possible.
A good hospice team would go with the motto, “we can still care” rather than “there’s nothing more we can do.”
How To Start Receiving Hospice Care?
Anyone can refer someone else for hospice care such as a family member, a friend, a member of the clergy, or even a doctor. In a majority of cases, patients are referred by a health care professional. However, a simple call to your local hospice provider can start the referral process too. When this formal request is applied for, many palliative care organizations make it a point to start providing care within a day or two.
What Happens When The Family Isn’t Ready Yet?
It is difficult for families to accept the fact that they will be losing their loved one sooner than expected. Nevertheless, that does not mean their loved one should get substandard care.
It is crucial for doctors to inform families that a hospice will provide their loved one with extra support and comfort. Actually, research has revealed that patients who get hospice care early usually live 29 days longer than patients with similar symptoms who don’t get hospice support.
What Happens When Families Want To Keep The Patient At Home?
From all the hurdles to get to hospice, this one is probably the easiest to deal with. Wherever the patient calls home, hospice care can be given. For instance, this can be their personal residence in Los Angeles, an assisted living facility, or a nursing home.
If a patient prefers to stay at home, a hospice can offer the support a family requires to adequately keep them there.
What About The Cost Of Hospice Care?
It is understandable for families to be concerned about the price of hospice care. Fortunately, hospice care is completely covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and many private insurance companies.
Therefore, hospice care is usually available at no cost to patients or their families. The cost includes all the medical supplies, prescriptions, and medical equipment related to the patient’s terminal illness.
Medication, supplies, and equipment are sent to the patient’s residence when required, so the family does not need to hassle with going to pharmacies or waiting in line to buy a hospital bed or a wheelchair.
How Do You Know When Hospice Care Is The Right Action To Take?
The first course of action to take is to figure out whether hospice care is the right action to take at the patient’s stage of illness. To be eligible for hospice care, the patient has to be battling a life-limiting illness with a life expectancy of six months or less. Although an illness such as cancer is usually the disease many people consider when they hear the word “hospice”, Faith and Hope takes care of patients of many age groups who are suffering from a wide range of illnesses such as the following:
- End-stage heart disease
- ALS
- End-stage kidney disease
- Neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s
- Strokes
- End-stage lung disease
If you or your loved one does not qualify for hospice care, palliative care would probably be the most appropriate choice. Normally, palliative care can start at any age and at any stage of a critical illness.
How Does A Hospice Make The Most Of The Final Stages Of Life?
A hospice wants to make a person’s transition from life to death as pleasant and easy as possible. Not everybody will go through this transition process in the same way os that is why hospices provide individual care plans to better facilitate the physical as well as the emotional pain along with meeting the person’s spiritual needs if he or she wishes to do so. This care process helps the patient and family get their lives in order and make the last stage of life a significant and intimate experience.
When this care is provided the families can move accordingly to the end of life process together in a very comfortable setting. In many situations, the patient stays at home, near to family and friends while they are under professional medical supervision. The hospice team which is mainly comprised of a doctor, nurse, perhaps a massage, art, and music therapist, as well as volunteers, focuses on the person rather than on the illness.
