Don’t give up. Give hope.

When Chosen Early, Hospice & Palliative Care Give Hope & Quality of Life

Hospice and palliative care are not about giving up. Each is about using specialized medical care and treatments to enhance quality of life and help you meet your goals. Both give patients hope that how they feel each day matters and that they can still do things that matter to them. Both are also focused on giving caregivers what they need to make care at home manageable.

Explore Your Options

Palliative Care and Hospice Care

Palliative care is for those who may still be undergoing curative treatments. Hospice care is for those not currently receiving curative or aggressive treatment but who want specialized symptom management and increased quality of life.

Learn more below, or contact us by phone or email to ask a question about our programs. We can listen, help you determine if hospice or palliative care may be helpful, and guide you to other resources as needed.

Learn More About Us

Marlene and her family chose hospice care, because being at home and quality of life were important to them. Her home care team was honored to work with Marlene on symptom management, so she could keep doing what mattered to her, like playing the carillon. Read more

How Hospice & Palliative Care Enhance Quality of Life

Treatments and Interventions to Manage Pain and Symptoms
Maximizing Time Spent at Home (versus hospital or other facilities)
Personalized Care Plan Based on Medical, Physical, Social, & Spiritual Needs
Support and Education for Caregivers
Coordination of Care with Primary Physician and Specialists
Regular Home Care Visits by Your Team

Studies Show Positive Outcomes When Hospice & Palliative Care Are Involved Early

Prolonged Survival – Journal of Pain & Symptom Management, 2007 and New England Journal of Medicine, 2010
Higher Quality of Life as Reported by Patients – New England Journal of Medicine, 2010
Far Less Likely to be Hospitalized – Journal of Palliative Medicine, 2012
Better Symptom Management – New England Journal of Medicine, 2010
Fewer Instances of Severe Depression for Surviving Spouses – JAMA, 2015

How Do I Know if Hospice or Palliative Care Is Right for My Situation?

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.

What Happens if I Want to Try Hospice or Palliative Care?

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.

I’d like to know more.

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:

About Hospice Care Plus

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.

We Serve Central and Eastern Kentucky

Estill, Jackson, Lee, Madison, Owsley, and Rockcastle Counties

Hospice Care Plus will come to you, wherever you are, as long as you are a resident of one of these six Kentucky counties. Your home downtown, a farm in a rural community, the hospital, or an extended care facility - we're there for you wherever you are.

See Our Service Area

Hospice Care Plus serves - Madison, Estill, Lee, Rockcastle, Jackson, and Owsley Counties - long@2x

Where is Hospice Care Plus Located?

Wherever you call home, we come to you.

Hospice Care Plus & Compassionate Care Center is located in Richmond, but our Home Hospice and Palliative Care programs are dedicated to allowing our patients to be where they want to be, with the people they care about most.

For most, that means staying home. Wherever you call home - an assisted living community, nursing home, subdivision, or family farm - we come to you.

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News & Events

Nat’l Hospice Month: #WeHonorLife

November is National Hospice & Palliative Care Month. Around the country, hospice and palliative care organizations use the month to raise awareness about these specialized forms of healthcare. At our hospice, we will use the month to celebrate what we believe hospice and palliative care to be about: life. With our #WeHonorLife campaign, we will…

The Team Behind the Billboard

Now through October 6, local residents can see one of our patient care teams at the intersection of Highway 25 and the Robert Martin Bypass in Richmond. For the first time ever, they are featured on a billboard that educates about the nature of hospice and palliative care. The slogan? Caring is a team sport.…

It’s Falls Prevention Awareness Week

If you have an aging parent, grandparent, or neighbor in your life, helping them reduce their risk of falling is essential to quality of life. Assessing and reducing their fall risk is a great way to help them stay healthy and independent for as long as possible. Among older adults, falls are the leading cause…

The River City Players Community Theater group accepts the first-place prize in the table-decorating contest.

Hee Haw Hoedown a Huge Success!

The Hee Haw Hoedown, held at the Estill County Fair Barn, had a record-setting night on Aug. 13. The event raises funds for Hospice Care Plus and is organized by a local committee. This is the fourteenth year the committee has hosted the fundraiser, which features a different theme each year. Committee member Erin Leach…