Cremation services Bethlehem, PA, are intimately involved with hospices, a type of healthcare that provides relief and emotional support to terminally ill patients. Its foremost focus is on the palliation of the patient and fulfills their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life.
Hospice care is very critical to patients suffering from incurable diseases, but due to many misunderstandings and confusion surrounding it, many couldn’t get the required benefits of it. The below points will clear out your confusion pertaining to hospice care.
Giving utmost emotional care to a patient doesn’t mean giving up on the hopes of getting better. Hospice care prioritizes taking care of the emotional needs of the patients and get the most of whatever time they are left with.
People often picture hospices as giving a high dosage of painkillers and drugs to make patients sleep most of the time, but it’s far from reality. Giving pain relief is indeed among the services of hospices but it focuses on providing all the equipment and care to comfort the patient.
Statistics prove that patients on hospice care live longer than the ones who don’t.
Hospice Can be Anywhere
Many people have a misunderstanding that hospice care is given in some hospital or designated medical facility, but it’s not true. Hospice is the name of care, not a place. You can receive hospice anywhere you want, be it your private house, church, apartment, within a retirement community.
No Time Constraints
A common notion is that hospice care is for the people who are in the last stages of life and have no hope left for life. Some believe that it has a 6-month time limit. All such myths are based on assumptions and a patient can receive hospice care for as long as he/she wants.
One can also quit hospice care anytime they want and can resume it at any stage of life. There no time constraints whatsoever.
You Don’t Have to Give Up All Medical Care
A patient can continue visiting his doctor or have regular checkups even during hospice care. The very goal of the latter is to manage the symptoms and provide the best quality of life and comfort. A person remains in charge of his/her medical life and does whatever is recommended by doctors.
It is Affordable
With the multitude of services it offers, hospice care is perceived to be very expensive and a prerogative of the rich. The reality is just the opposite. As of writing these lines, hospice care is covered by Medicare in 43 States, so most patients can qualify for it for little to no cost. You’re bound to get some of the hospice services for free, even if you don’t have insurance.
Hospice Care Includes A Range of Services
It offers a plethora of services for both the patients and his/her family. Some of the services include:
- Counseling
facilities
- Home visits by medical practitioners or nurses
- Symptoms identification and management
- Pain relief
- Medical supplies
- Access to medical aides for assistance in bathing, clothing, eating, etc.
- Medical equipment such as oxygen tanks and hospital beds