Hospice doesn't mean you give up! PT,ST,OT every patient is different. Know the facts @Agape_Senior #AskforAgapeByName

KNOW THE FACTS-- Before you make Health care decisions!




Picture from Farleigh hospice

I was talking to a family a few weeks ago at the hospital and the doctor had mentioned hospice.  One daughter was on board and the other said she wasn't going for hospice because she wanted her father to be able to participate in therapy.  The family asked me to come in so that we could discuss all the options available to the family, you see this patient resides in an Assisted Living facility and the family had been given a few details that were mis-information.

Myth: Assisted Living Patients must use the hospice that they are told to use.
Fact: You have the option to choose your HOSPICE provider-- we always tell people to #AskForAgapeByName

Myth: My father is unable to receive therapy while under hospice
Fact: Although not every patient is able to participate in therapy -- there are instances when therapy can be provided to a patient.-- we have Speech, Occupational, Physical, Animal & Music therapy

Myth: We have given up on my father
Fact: The focus of hospice and palliative care is quality of life. We intend for the patient to get the most out of the time he or she has.

True story: We recently had a patient that had a mass in her throat and the MD thought it was time for hospice as there was no other AGGRESSIVE treatment that could be provided-- and the family was in desperate need of receiving help in the home, they needed support from the chaplain and the help from the social worker to get affairs in order and other services.  The MD did think that she could reduce the mass by doing one or two more rounds of radiation
.  Based on all the details on this patients care plan-- we were able to provide this service.

Back to the father & his two daughters.  The patient had a stroke and was unable to swallow -- the one hold out sister said can we at least give him some therapy to see if he can swallow- ABSOLUTELY-- because we concentrate on quality of life and his quality of life would be better being able to swallow.

KNOW THE FACTS before you make a decision!
A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that early palliative care improves quality of life and may actually lead to longer survival. The patients receiving palliative care had less depression, less anxiety, and survived on average about three months longer than the control population. This study is a powerful rebuttal to the misconception that choosing hospice and palliative care is giving up.