“Hospice is only for cancer patients.”
This couldn’t be farther from the truth! Any patient with a terminal diagnosis will benefit from hospice services. These include but are not limited to- HIV/AIDS, end-stage kidney disease, congestive heart failure (CHF), Alzheimer’s Disease, cirrhosis, stroke/CVA, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), septicemia (sepsis), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gherig’s Disease), multple sclerosis (MS), various cancers, and many others. Hospice care manages symptoms associated with the terminal diagnosis to keep the patient comfortable in their last moments of life.
Many families or physicians decide to call hospice during the final days and weeks, however the patient is eligible for hospice care much earlier than that. ANY patient that has been diagnosed with ANY terminal disease with a life expectancy of 6 months or less, should the disease run its normal course, should call hospice. This does not mean that the patient will die within 6 months, there are many patients who get better from the symptom management and no longer qualify for hospice care or there are patients that have been with us for a year or more.
Don’t wait to get the help your loved one needs. Hospice is not just for the final stages of life, hospice is about increasing quality of life when handed a serious diagnosis. Call us anytime, day or night, at (270) 826-2326.
