“Who is there in all the world who listens to us? Here I am- this is me in my nakedness, with my wounds, my secret grief, my despair, my betrayal, my pain which I can’t express, my terror, my abandonment. Oh, listen to me for a day, an hour, a moment, lest I expire in my terrible wilderness, my lonely silence. Oh God, is there no one to listen?” -Seneca
Just a small quote from Seneca about the physical and mental tortured endured by a dying person. This is most often what people fear when they think about dying. This “suffering” isn’t commonly treated in traditional healthcare. Typically, traditional healthcare focuses on treating the illness or ailment faced by a person. While we are all grateful for these amazing clinicians, physicians, surgeons, etc. who treat these illnesses, sometimes there is nothing more that can be treated and the focus must shift from treating the illness to treating the patient.
Enter hospice care! Healthcare has not failed when a patient can no longer be treated/cured, it is just time to shift the focus onto comfort and ending suffering. Your body may be failing you but your quality of life is improved when hospice care comes into your care plan. St. Anthony’s Hospice care manages symptoms and controls pain to give our patients the highest quality of life for however long they are with us. Hospice care does not mean you are giving up on your loved one. It is extra help to ensure your loved one is comfortable and both you and your loved one have all the help and support you need.
Hospice is not a place; it is a philosophy of care. It treats the person, as opposed to the disease, and hospice focuses on quality of life. It surrounds the patient with an interdisciplinary team of experts who come together to treat the 5 types of pain for the patient- physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, and financial. St. Anthony’s Hospice & Palliative services are centered around each individual patient with a care plan tailored to each patient’s individual needs. All of this can be done wherever the patient calls home or the Lucy Smith King Care Center, our inpatient hospice unit. Beginning hospice care early in the terminal diagnosis, ensure all symptoms are expertly managed which improves quality of life and can even improve quantity of life.
Nearing the end of life does not necessarily mean the patient is close to death. While hospice care is for patients with a life-limiting illness that should the illness run it’s normal course, the patient has a life expectancy of 6 months or less. A patient must meet hospice eligibility requirements set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. You can see a list of general eligibility requirements here.
We’ve said it so many times, hospice does not hasten death! Rather, when a patient’s physical, psychological, spiritual, financial, and social symptoms are properly managed, a patient can live for much longer. If hospice care is started early in the disease process, a patient receives more benefits!
So why wait? Even if you or a loved one is still seeking curative treatments, St. Anthony’s offers palliative care. Whether you or a loved one are ready for hospice or palliative care, give St. Anthony’s a call to help answer your questions and ease your suffering. Call us anytime at (270) 826-2326 or make an online referral here.
Source for quote found in Dame Cicely Saunders’ writing, J Palliat Care from 1988.
