Volunteers are carefully trained, screened and supervised. For most patients, this is at home surrounded by friends and loved ones. Hospice services are also available in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult family care homes and hospice residential facilities. Hospice medical personnel have special expertise in pain and symptom control to help a patient be as comfortable and alert as possible. The hospice unit of care is the patient and the family, and hospice staff and volunteers are specially trained to deal with the loneliness and fears of abandonment experienced by both the patient and his or her loved ones.
Bereavement counseling is offered to the family for at least one year following the patient's death.
There are currently 40 licensed hospices in Florida serving all counties.