Palliative care specialists try to encourage all health care professionals to see their roles as enhancing the quality of life of patients with serious progressive disease, by controlling pain and other distressing symptoms, providing psychosocial and spiritual support, and developing systems that can offer practical support to the patient and family. Since each patient's needs are unique, hospice offers individualized plans of care for every patient. Hospice uses an interdisciplinary team, which includes physicians, nurses, social workers, counselors, special therapists, clergy and volunteers, to help the patients and their families with their physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs. At the Jacob Perlow Hospice , a member of this team is always available by phone, on call 24 hours every day. Pain control is one of the most important concerns and, for many patients, this means the use of medication.
Hospice strives to relieve pain without impairing the patient's alertness.
Other ways hospice workers help make patients more comfortable through a wide variety of therapies and treatment modalities. That may mean helping the patient communicate needs with family and friends, put financial matters in order, find spiritual support from members of the clergy or cope with the isolation or fear of dying. The end of life does not have to be experienced solely as a time of pain, fear, loneliness, and anxiety. Hospice promotes the broad principle of palliative care and focuses on quality of life, thereby turning the end of life into an important time of living. Being in the home with family members gives patients comfort and security, and relieves feelings of isolation.