Companion Hospice

What Is Hospice?

Hospice is palliative care and services designed to meet the unique needs of individuals who are facing a life limiting illness. Hospice provides medical care, emotional and spiritual support to patients and their families, when curative treatments are no longer effective and life expectancy can be measured in months, rather than years.

Hospice is not about giving up or losing hope; hospice is about focusing on the quality of life, instead of the quantity.

Who Is Eligible?

At any time during a life-limiting illness, it is appropriate to discuss all of the patient's care options, including hospice. When a person has a life-limiting illness and aggressive treatments are no longer beneficial, Companion Hospice provides the benefits of comfort and supportive care.

Some of the more common life-limiting illnesses that would require comfort care include:

• Advanced Cancer
• Failure of Multiple Organ Systems
• Final stage of diseases including:
  • — Cardiovascular Disease, including Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
  • — Pulmonary Disease including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
  • — Dementias and Alzheimer's Disease
  • — Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS), Parkinsons, strokes and other neurological diseases
  • — Liver Disease
  • — AIDS

What Is Provided?

Companion Hospice offers an individualized plan of care that is developed by the hospice team, the physician, and the patient and family to address the patient's specific needs. The patient's primary care physician maintains oversight of the care plan and is consulted regularly regarding the patient's condition.

The hospice team responsibilities include the management of the patient's pain and symptoms and assisting the patient and family with the emotional, psychosocial, and spiritual concerns when dealing with end-of-life care.

Companion Hospice services may include:

• Medications, medical equipment and supplies (related to terminal illness)
• Routine visits by each member of your hospice team
• Education for the patient and family
• Social work services, counseling and end of life planning
• Spiritual care and bereavement support
• Volunteers to sit with patients, run errands and other supportive services
• Dietary counseling
• Therapy Services: Occupational, Speech, Physical
• Music Therapy
• 24-hour on-call services
• Respite Care
• Short term Continuous Care and Inpatient Care to manage symptoms that are not easily controlled
• Bereavement services to the family for at least 13 months

Who Pays for Hospice Services?

• The Medicare hospice benefit covers all hospice-related expenses for care.
• Many health insurance policies now provide hospice benefits. Companion Hospice can check with your insurance company regarding coverage.
• Companion Hospice is provided on the basis of need, not the ability to pay.