Why should I choose hospice care? Can't I get what need from my doctor?
A hospice team - nurses, social workers, spiritual counselors, pharmacists and others - will work with your doctor to help control your pain and any other symptoms you might experience as your disease progresses.

When should a decision about entering a hospice program be made, and by whom?
Whenever a life-limiting illness is present, it is appropriate to discuss options such as hospice. This is a decision that should be made by the patient, in agreement with the family.

Does hospice do anything to make death come sooner?
Hospice does not make death come sooner, it allows death to come naturally. Hospice also helps patients and their families understand the dying process.

What diagnoses are covered under hospice?
Any individual, of any age, who has a life-limiting illness is eligible for hospice services. A physician will determine when an illness has reached this stage. If the physician has not mentioned hospice and the patient feels that curative treatment no longer helps, the patient and family should discuss the possibility of hospice with the physician. Diseases that are cared for in hospice include but are not limited to the following:

• Cancer, pulmonary disease (such as chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive disease, emphysema and fibrosis), heart disease (such as congestive heart failure, heart attacks and hardening of the arteries to the heart), kidney failure, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, peripheral vascular disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), and Alzheimer's disease.

Who pays for hospice?
Most third party insurance companies have a hospice benefit, including Medicare and Medicaid. Hospice programs accept patients based on their need for care, not their ability to pay.

Do I have to change doctors?
No, hospice teams work with your doctor to develop a plan of care designed to help you maintain dignity and the best quality of life through this stressful period.

Where do I have to go to get hospice?
Hospice is a philosophy and a concept, not a place, so it comes to you. A majority of hospice patients are cared for in their own homes. We also care for people in nursing homes, assisted living facilities or adult foster care homes - wherever the patient calls home!

How does hospice manage pain?
Hospice believes that emotional and spiritual pain are just as real and in need of attention as physical pain, so hospice can address each of these issues. Hospice nurses and doctors are up to date on medications and devices for pain and symptom relief.

Will I become addicted to pain medications?
Patients in pain need medication to make them comfortable. This is very different from people taking drugs to get high. Many studies have been done on patients who have had to take pain medication for long periods of time, and none of these patients became addicted to the drugs. With addiction, there is a craving for a drug to get high, which has nothing to do with the prevention or control of pain.

What if I don't die in six months?
As long as the doctor verifies that the disease remains a terminal disease, hospice services will continue to be provided.

What if I change my mind?
Since the selection of hospice care is a choice of the patient, the patient may also choose to stop hospice care at any time. When you state that those services are no longer desired, the hospice will notify your insurance company and help you make other arrangements.

Does hospice care focus on dying?
Hospice believes in maintaining the best possible quality of life, and the hospice team focuses on providing the services that best meet the needs of the patient and the family. With this goal in mind, the hospice team also works to maintain an atmosphere in which patients and families feel comfortable asking questions or expressing concerns.

Will hospice help me understand the dying process and what happens afterwards?
Yes. Hospice workers guide patients and their families and friends to a clear understanding of what is happening, all the time. It is a goal of hospice care to remove some of the mystery of the dying process and to assure that help will be available during and after the death.