The team of Upland Hills Hospice consists of a group of professionals and specially trained volunteers working together to provide the best care for each patient. The team works with the patient’s personal physician to ensure effective management of pain and other symptoms. The team also coordinates care with other community agencies.

Nurses:

• *Coordinate a plan of care for each patient and instruct family members in the care and management of  the patient.
• Provide comfort through pain and symptom management and emotional support to both the patient and family.
• Provide hands-on care as often as necessary for assessment, intervention, and teaching.

Medical Director:

• A doctor who works with the patient’s personal physician and hospice team to approve patients for admission and ensure the most effective care.
• Serves as a liason with other physicians in the community and is a medical resource for the hospice team.

Support Therapist:

• Provides supportive counseling to patients and families in coming to terms with the dying process and grief issues.

Social Worker:

• Counsels patients and families to help them handle social and financial stresses.
• Can recommend additional community resources and financial assistance.

Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) and Certified Nursing Assistants (CAN):

• Provides personal care for patients and perform light housekeeping tasks.

Volunteers:

• Offers a wide range of services, from companion visits and meals to transportation and other supportive services.
• Assist with bereavement activities.
• Provide special skills in community education, fund-raising efforts,  and hospice library service.

Physical Therapist:

• Works with patients to sustain mobility and relieve pain and discomfort.
• Teach family members to maneuver patients with restricted physical abilities.

Dietician:

• Provides nutritional counseling to help patients build strength.

Chaplain:

• Works closely with community clergy to provide spiritual guidance and support as requested.

Bereavement Counseling Team:

• Assist families to cope with their grief.
• Helps prepare the family for managing their loss before death and follows their adjustment for up to thirteen months after death.
• Provides information to families and community groups on the grief process, coordinates grief support groups, provides individual grief counseling and makes referrals as needed.