Home Care, Hospice & Palliative Care

November is Home Care, Hospice & Palliative Care Awareness Month!

Home care, or home health, is the treatment of a patient in their own home. The need for home care is projected to increase year after year. Continuing to treat patients at home helps to reduce the number of inpatients there are in hospitals. Some of the reasons for providing home care include:

• Wound care

• Physical therapy

• Occupational therapy

• Management of urinary catheters

• Management of central line catheters

• IV antibiotics/chemotherapy/TPN

• Education on disease processes & medication management

Palliative Care is focused on relieving symptoms and improving the quality of life of a person living with a serious, debilitating illness. It is extremely difficult for some people to leave their homes to seek medical care. Palliative Care can give that person the option of being seen in their home.

Hospice is the care of a person who is terminally ill. The purpose of hospice care is to alleviate symptoms, improve their quality of life, and aim for a pain-free death. There is a misconception that hospice is only for a person who is actively dying, but in fact, there are patients on hospice who live for months, even years. A terminally ill person can receive hospice services in their home, in the hospital, or in a hospice facility.