Don’t give up. Give hope.

While it takes a careful review of a patient’s medical records to know for sure, there are some common signs. One or more of these can be an indicator that home care with either hospice or palliative can be helpful.

• Medical care is increasingly complex.
• May have one disease that’s harder to manage, one primary disease with underlying conditions, or many conditions that, together, have led to declining health over time.
• May have been hospitalized more than once in the past year.
• Have used or been tempted to use the emergency room, especially when issues arise after the doctor’s office is closed.
• Increasingly difficult to get to appointments with physicians, and it takes time to recover from the effort of going.
• Curative or aggressive treatments are less helpful than before or may have been discontinued.
• Strong desire to avoid hospitalization and remain at home.
• Strong desire to feel as well as possible, to be able to make the most of each day, or to have more good days than bad days.
• Caregiving is getting more difficult to handle alone or is taking a bigger toll.
• Can benefit from connection to resources and support for all involved.
• Undergoing curative treatments, but wants to maintain good quality of life with symptom management throughout those treatments (palliative only).
• Not undergoing curative or aggressive treatments, but hopes for months of living with quality of life and specialized symptom management at home.

If you want to try either program, just give us a call. We’ll work with you to determine eligibility and goals of care. If one of our programs is a good fit, you can try it for a while to make sure it meets your needs. If you choose our care, this is what you can expect:

• An Admissions Nurse will schedule a home visit to conduct the admission.
• A specialized care team will be assigned to you, and they will begin routine visits, based on your needs, wishes, and care needed.
• The team cares for you in conjunction with your primary care physician and/or specialists. Your medical orders come from the physician you’ve chosen to serve as your attending (often a primary provider, a specialist, a Hospice Care Plus medical director, or a combination).
• For hospice care, the routine visits are usually weekly or more as needed. For palliative care, they are typically monthly with follow-up visits as needed.
• If you choose hospice care, your team will include nurses along with a nursing assistant, social worker, and a chaplain for spiritual care and support. Although each team member contributes to quality of life, you may choose which team members visit. You can change your choice at any time. (Nursing visits are required.)
• Hospice offers 24/7 nurse availability through our on-call service for after-hours and weekends.
• Palliative care visits with a nurse and social work team to support pain & symptom management and to coordinate to meet needs.

We speak with families frequently about their situation. Contact us anytime using the the web form, our email address, or our phone number. We’re happy to take all the time you need to listen, offer guidance, and help you access programs that can help.
If you’d like to read more information, we recommend these links:

• Hospice Care: Frequently Asked Questions
• Palliative Care Information & Frequently Asked Questions
• About Hospice Care
• About Palliative Care
• Caregiving

• We are a non-profit organization providing hospice, palliative, and bereavement care.
• As a non-profit, our mission is to provide care regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. We do not invoice families for routine hospice or palliative care.
• Medicare, Medicaid, and most commercial insurance companies include a hospice benefit. You are not expected to pay co-pays or deductibles.
• We are accredited by the Joint Commission and certified by Medicare and Medicaid.
• In addition to our home-palliative and home-hospice programs, we own and operate the Compassionate Care Center in Richmond. The Center provides care for hospice patients who need inpatient management of a symptom and respite care to give caregivers the chance to rest and recover.
• We are a proud recipient of the national Hospice Honors and Hospice Honors Elite awards.