If you have been following our newspaper column ads, you have been reading about Al, a typical patient who is now receiving care from Merrimack Valley Hospice. Al has been battling congestive heart failure for several years and recently decided that hospice was his best option for care at this time.
When it is time for hospice?
Hospice care is appropriate for individuals facing a life-limiting illness and a prognosis of six months or less, if the disease follows its normal course. Hospice services are available for patients of any age when it has been determined that curative treatment is no longer an option and the objective becomes an issue of pain and symptom management and quality-of-life. Each situation is unique, but many patients receive hospice care in the comfort and familiar surroundings of their own homes or wherever they reside.
Upon admission to hospice, an interdisciplinary team of professionals all work together with the patient and the family to customize the patient’s plan of care. The plan of care addresses all aspects of the patient’s terminal illness, from the patient and family’s physical, emotional and spiritual care to the provision of medications, medical equipment/supplies, and bereavement support.
To learn more about hospice, visit Merrimack Valley Hospice on this web site.