Today, Hospice is a special program that cares for people with terminal illness. In the course of certain illness, when the patient, doctor and family decide the aggressive curative treatment is no longer approriate, hospice offers new hope, the hope that patients will spend their lives in comfort with the support needed to control the symptoms of illness as well as meet their physical , emotional and spiritua l needs. American Home Health Hospice provides services relating to life-threatening illness. Services are available that are not possible in a traditional health care setting. The hospice team provides services that allow the patient to stay at home with family or other caregivers.
Patients are important participants in making decisions that affect their care.
The hospice concept attempts to keep intact the independence, dignity and personal choices of the patient while providing medical treatment and relief. Focus is on the patient and family rather than the disease or cause of death. Admitting a patient to the hospice program is a simple, time-saving process for the attending physician, discharge planner or social worker. Call the hospice office with the patient's name, address, age, present location, diagnosis and estimated prognosis. A hospice nurse will visit the patient and family at home or in the hospital to assess the immediate needs, recommend an initial plan of care and obtain an informed consent.