Thought Leaders: November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month
There comes a time in many of our lives when we either take or are given the responsibility of caring for a seriously or terminally ill loved one. This can be a hard job and can be made even more challenging by our sometimes confusing health care system.
With hospice and palliative care, there’s an incredible resource that provides comfort, care, dignity and respect to those coping with a serious or life-limiting illness.
November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month and hospice and palliative care providers mark this month as a time of engagement and outreach.
At Pathways, we will be recognizing and celebrating the trained, expert professionals who provide these valuable services in our community and reaching out to help our community understand the care options that are available to them.
Hospice is unique in that it offers an interdisciplinary team approach to treatment that includes specialized medical care, comprehensive pain management and emotional and spiritual support. Caring for the whole person allows the team to address each patient’s unique needs and challenges. In addition to caring for patients, hospice offers services for families and loved ones that provide emotional support and advice to help family members become confident caregivers and adjust to the future with grief support for up to a year.
Hospices are some of the best providers of community-based palliative care. Palliative care delivers expertise to improve quality of life and relief from pain. It can be provided at any time during an illness – during and after treatment, from diagnosis on.
The best time to learn about hospice or palliative care is before you are faced with a medical crisis. One of the most frequent comments we hear from families is, “Why did we wait so long before calling hospice?”
We are committed to serve and deliver high-quality person-centered care to anyone who is facing a serious or life-limiting illness.
Please join me in recognizing National Hospice and Palliative Care month this November and celebrating the truly selfless professionals who provide this vital care.
For more information, Pathways can be reached at (970) 663-3500 or www.pathways-care.org
