Hospice care is an often misunderstood subject. There are lots of mixed reviews regarding what the proper hospice home care in Indiana looks like when it should be done, and what implications it has on a patient. Before you enroll for hospice care, it’s important that you understand what the whole program entails. Hospice of the Calumet Area shares some facts to shed more light on the subject.
Hospice’s aim is to keep you comfortable
Many patients enroll for hospice expecting to pursue treatment for their illness. But hospice care isn’t designed for that. The entire program is aimed at making you as comfortable and pain-free as possible during this special time in your life. So, don’t expect to get blood transfusions, chemotherapy, or physical therapy.
Access to your regular physicians becomes limited
You’ve probably had your doctors for a long time in the duration of your illness. Now that you are entering a new phase by enrolling for hospice care, it’s important to understand that your doctors won’t see you quite as often. That’s because these physicians usually don’t know how to provide end-of-life care. But the good news is that through hospice, you get an experienced team of caring people around you.
Don’t expect nutritional guidance
One of the things patients don’t understand before starting to use hospice care is that the program isn’t designed to promote wellness. Its focus is to make the final stages of life more comfortable. For that reason, you shouldn’t expect to get nutritional guidance as part of hospice care. Of course, your loved ones can help in that aspect. That said, you still get certain types of therapy, such as music therapy.
For ages, hospice care has helped improve the quality of life of people nearing the end of their lives. Understanding what hospice care involves can prepare you psychologically as you enroll for it.
