The focus of Upland Hills Health Hospice is maintaining quality of life by relieving pain and addressing the physical, emotional and spiritual feelings that the patient and family members feel when faced with a terminal illness. Hospice care is available for terminally ill people who are no longer seeking curative treatment and whose life expectancy is measured in months rather than years. Our hospice services can be provided at home or in a hospital, nursing home or freestanding facility for patients with any terminal illness such as cancer, heart disease, COPD, renal failure, Alzheimer’s, stroke or AIDS. Most private insurances as well as Medicare, Medicaid and CHAMPUS (military health benefits) cover hospice care.
What is Hospice Care Like?
Betty Baxter’s husband Leland (Lee) lived with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) for many years.
Hospice Volunteers
Hospice volunteers provide personal comfort and support that supplements the care provided.
Misconceptions about Hospice
Myth: The patient must be actively dying in order to be admitted to Upland Hills Hospice.
The Hospice Team
The Upland Hills hospice team consists of medical staff and specially trained volunteers who work together to provide the best care for each patient. The team coordinates with a patient’s personal physician and other community agencies and can provide all medications and medical equipment. The hospice team includes:
- Assists families to cope with grief
- Helps prepare family for managing their loss before death and follows their adjustment for up to 13 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
- 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 for assessment, intervention and teaching Are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week
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