Video: The Role Of Hospice Home Health Care Providers

(WCBI)—Caring for a loved one can be a stressful and emotionally draining time for many.

From medical treatments and prescription costs to the possibility of losing a loved one.

It can get overwhelming for the families but that’s where Hospice Home Health Care Services steps in.

Hospice is a special type of care that helps manage pain and symptoms for people with deteriorating health while also showing patients compassion and helping them live their life to the fullest.

“Until these diseases have a cure. People have us,” said Michelle Lowe Of Halcyon Hospice.

The need for hospice services is more in demand now than ever before.

” Re-admission rates have sky rocketed in the last three years. So what we can do is keep the patient at home and bring the hospital setting to them. It protects our hospitals. It protects our patients, it saves them the time. It also opens up the emergency for true emergency,”said Lowe.

Amy Williams with Baptist Memorial Hospice has been working with hospice for 2 years and says she’s learned that it’s better to have the tough conversations earlier rather than later.

“A lot of times those hard conversations are not being had early enough and we’re having them too late and so a lot of times it’s the nurses in the clinic or it’s us.. our nurses that are having to have those conversations. The quicker we can get those questions answered from the patient while they are able to make those decisions themselves the better off we are,”said Williams.

Having a clear line of communication with the family is key for any hospice aide. Michelle Lowe with says that’s almost as important as the care provided for the patient.

” One of the biggest things the Hospice team does within it’s plan of care for the patient is take care of the family. We don’t want any surprises when it come to the final days, weeks and months. They need to be updated with what’s going on with that patient. They need to know. So taking away some of the shock element allows for a clear path to healing… for the family,” said Lowe.

Lowe goes on to say becoming a Hospice aide is no walk in the park. Each nurse undergoes a strenuous back ground check to ensure the person caring for your loved one is just like family.

” They are scheduled to come into the home up to five days a week based off what the family need and what they patient needs. Those are the people. They know what time they are coming and they become a part of the family so those people are critical when it come to the satisfaction rating of hospice care they are the loving hands and the warm heart they are the people you come to love and will always remember when you loved one passes away.”

November is national Hospice Month and for more information on the services hospice provide visit www.excellenceinhospice.com