Hospice is provided wherever the patient feels more comfortable. Over ninety percent of those surveyed say they would prefer to live out their lives peacefully at home or a similar setting. Over fifty-one percent of Americans die in a hospital, a place designed for treating an illness. Hospice focuses on comfort rather than a cure. Patients and their families maintain control over decisions related to the individualized care they receive from the interdisciplinary team.
Hospice provides life-affirming care that focuses on the positive aspects of living.
Hospice may not be able to add days to life but it can truly add life to days, however long the patient has remaining. Hospice is for anyone facing an end stage prognosis of six months or less, regardless of their diagnosis. Many still believe that Hospice is only for people with cancer or Aids. We are seeing more and more people with diagnoses such as stroke, heart, liver cardiac and neurological diseases. Hospice is not just a service to call when death is imminent or a few weeks away.