This includes trained staff members and the patient's family and friends. Our staff includes the Medical Director, Executive Director, Patient Care Coordinator, Primary RN, LPN, Family Service Coordinator, Counselor, Volunteers, Clergy, Certified Home Health Aides and other nurses and staff as needed. In the early weeks of care, it's usually not necessary for someone to be with the patient at all times. Later, however, since on of the most common fears of patients is dying alone, hospice generally recommends someone be there continuously. While family and friends must be relied on to give most of the care, hospices do provide volunteers to assist with errands and to provide a break and time away for major care givers.
Hospices do nothing to either speed up or slow down the dying process.
Just as doctors and midwives lend their support and expertise during the time of child birth, so hospice provides it's presence and specialized knowledge during the dying process. Although most hospice services are delivered in a personal residence, some patients live in nursing homes or hospice centers. In addition, physical and occupational therapists assist patients to be as mobile and self-sufficient as possible, and they are often joined by specialists schooled in music therapy, art therapy, diet counseling and other therapies. Hospice believes that emotional and spiritual pain are as real and in need of attention as physical pain, so it addresses there as well. Using some combination of medications, counseling and therapies, most patients can attain a level of comfort that is acceptable to them.