When is the right time?
There may come a point when a physician’s best recommendation for you is to spend your remaining days in meaningful contemplation and loving interaction with family and friends. Arriving at this decision earlier rather than later can have a tremendously beneficial effect upon events as they unfold.
Though you may be unable to halt the progression of this life-limiting condition, you can, in fact, keep it from taking control of the last days of your life. Making the assertion to enter hospice affirms your will and desire to embrace the present, and lets you look to your future filled with faith and hope according to your personal beliefs.
Hospice care is a place of safety and support, where your physical, emotional and spiritual needs are being provided for, thus restoring a measure of control in your life to focus on what matters most to you. The result is often a profound sense of peace that now overshadows what has been a mortal struggle.
Who is eligible?
- Anyone of any age with a life-limiting illness and prognosis of approximately six months or less to live.
- Patients under the care of a physician licensed to practice in the state of Texas.
- Patients who reside in the 13-county Faith Presbyterian Hospice service area.
What should I know?
- Hospice is not a place—it’s high-quality, palliative care that focuses on comfort and quality of life.
- Hospice is paid for by Medicare, Medicaid, and most insurance plans.
- Hospice care provides expert medical services, as well as spiritual and emotional support to patients and families.
- Research shows that most Americans prefer to be home at the end of life—hospice makes this possible.
- Hospice also serves people living in nursing homes and assisted living.
- A person may keep his or her referring physician involved while receiving hospice care.
- Hospice patients can receive care for six months or longer. Care can continue if, after this period, a physician certifies a continued prognosis of six months.
- Hospice offers grief and bereavement services to family members for 13 months. Support can continue beyond this for the unique needs of grieving children.
- Research has shown people receiving hospice and palliative care early on typically live longer than similar patients who do not opt for these services.
