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Caring Spirit
August 2002
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NEWS for Friends of the Lutheran Home Care Agency
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As published in Focus: Hospice Care - Part I
A Policymaker's Primer on Hospice Care
Physicians, the general public, and those who create, interpret, and apply policy often harbor misconceptions about hospice. "People think good end-of-life care is only pain management. That's not the end-all," says Mary Labyak, MSW. "People need to understand that hospice is, in a larger sense, about living life to the fullest, and making sure life has grace and meaning. It's also about how we help people make decisions at the end of life, and how we care for the entire family."
Myth #1: Medicare provides only 6 months of hospice care, so enrollment should be delayed as long as possible.
Fact #1: Medicare law does not time limit the hospice benefit, but Medicare regulations and their interpretations often discourage longer lengths of stay. Patients may enroll when their physician and the hospice medical director judge that the illness is terminal, with an estimated life expectancy of six months or less.
Myth #2: All Hospice care is the same.
Fact #2: Even in the same community, hospices may vary markedly; especially in the kinds of treatment patients can receive.
Myth #3: Patients can't receive curative treatments while on hospice.
Fact #3: While the Medicare hospice benefit requires beneficiaries to forego curative treatments, some hospices accept patients into their special palliative care programs when they prefer to continue receiving therapies directed toward reversal of disease and prolongation of life.
Myth #4: Hospice means giving up hope. Hospice workers help people die.
Fact #4: Hospice workers help people revise what they may hope for and help them achieve comfort when death is inevitable. They do nothing to hasten or prevent death.
Myth #5: Hospice is useful only for heavy-duty pain medications.
Fact #5: Hospice care is designed to provide not only medical care but also social, psychological, and spiritual support given by an interdisciplinary team that includes a nurse, social worker, chaplain, and other professionals.
Myth #6: You can't keep your own doctor on hospice.
Fact #6: Most hospices establish working relationships with a wide base of referring physicians so that patients can keep their own doctors on admission to hospice care.
Myth #7: Hospice is only for cancer patients.
Fact #7: People who die from cancer are more likely to choose hospice care than are those who die of other conditions, but hospice care is now available to an increasing number of terminally ill people with non-cancer diagnoses, such as congestive heart failure and chronic lung disease.
Myth #8: Hospice is only for the sick family member.
Fact #8: Hospice is designed to support all family members during the illness and to offer at least one year of bereavement support after a death.
Myth #9: Hospice is a place, so you must leave home to receive hospice.
Fact #9: In America, most hospice care is delivered in the home, though inpatient care is generally available (in hospitals, nursing homes and special settings) to serve those with no at-home caregiver, and those whose total care is overwhelming to families.
Myth #10: Hospice is expensive.
Fact #10: In general hospice costs less than hospital or nursing home care and saves significant money for Medicare - Hospice is a Medicare benefit.
The Hospice Philosophy . . . Is beautifully illustrated by Dr. Cicely Saunders who opened the first modern-day hospice in London, England:
"You matter to the last moment of your life, and we will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but to live until you die."
Contact the Hospice of Hope for additional information:
Lutheran HOME CARE Agency offers volunteer and employment opportunities for those who desire to be "Christian Caregivers." If you would like more information, please give us a call at 989-652-4663 or e-mail homecare@lhminc.org.
Lutheran HOME
CARE
Agency Christian care for loved ones
SUBSIDIARY 0F LUTHERAN HOMES 0F MICHIGAN, INC.
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