End of life care is one of the hardest things that you will ever need to arrange. This becomes even more of a truth when it is someone that you love very much, like a parent or grandparent. Sending them to a hospice center might seem cold and impersonal to you, and is therefore, not an option. Luckily, that doesn’t mean that palliative hospice care is not a valid choice anymore. Many in-home care services now offer hospice care, but they do this by bringing it to you, making the care that’s provided not only comforting and soothing as palliative care should be, but it’s given within the comfort of your own home, and this adds familiarity, comfort, and love to that care.
Hospice care serves an important purpose: it helps make the transition process while a relative is dying a lot easier–both for the person suffering and their family. The problem that many people have with it, though, is that their loved one is transferred to a new location and that they may not find this comforting at all. Most people find the mental comfort of home superior to the physical comfort of other places. But, if you could combine these two things, the best of both worlds would become available. This is a great option, and if it is available to you, it is worth considering as it might be the best thing for your family member at this time.
There are concerns with hospice in the home. For one, does your loved one’s insurance policy cover it? This is dependent upon what they have, but Medicare policies will cover approved hospice care in many cases if there is documentation that a terminal illness has reached the last stages. Other policies may differ a little. Another concern has to do with the quality of care that’s given. Hospice homes generally have a lot of history of helping people ease their pain, but in-home caregivers may be a little inexperienced. This is why you should always go with a professional service, and not an independent caregiver. This way, you can guarantee that caring and experience are there, and not just have to trust someone you don’t know’s word. Odds are, they are a very good palliative caregiver, but having that knowledge firsthand is much better than guessing for your peace of mind.
It’s not easy to watch someone that you care about have their health decline knowing that it will not get better for them physically. But by ensuring that they have the best care that they can get in the best location, you will not only be helping them, you will be helping your entire family by showing them that you are doing the best you can for supplying high quality support during this tough time. In-home hospice care can be a mutually beneficial type of care if you can get it in your area, but other types of palliative care also have been shown to have great benefits, too.
Leave a Reply