No one really wants to imagine losing a loved one. For this reason, a lot of families put off conversations regarding end-of-life care. If you’re asking yourself when you should contact hospice care, odds are that your family member might already be qualified to receive that extra layer of specialized support and care. Even if your family member isn’t presently qualified for hospice care, collecting details concerning when you ought to contact hospice before a crisis strikes will provide you time to discover the different available options and figure out the best match for your loved one.
Should I call hospice?
A lot of people hesitate to get in touch with hospice services until the last days of their family member’s life, not knowing that they might have begun to receive special nursing care and medicine, medical supplies, and equipment associated with their family member’s terminal condition at no expense a lot earlier. Hospice services will improve a person’s quality of life by managing pain and additional symptoms of their illness and will improve a caregiver’s life by having somebody that they’re able to lean on, obtain guidance from, and get the necessary support they need within this challenging time.
Click here to contact Atlanta hospices if your family member is suffering any of the below symptoms:
- Skin infections, tears, and additional indications of deteriorating health
- Progressive weight loss
- Changes to the mental capabilities
- Increase in falls
- A decline in their capability of performing daily activities, which includes using the bathroom, walking, getting dressed, or eating
- Frequent trips to the emergency room or hospital admissions
When to contact Atlanta hospices
If you’re seeing the above indications and wondering when the best time is to get in touch with Atlanta hospices, it might now be that time. To gain access to hospice services, your family member must be diagnosed by a healthcare provider with a terminal condition with less than 6 months to live if the condition follows its usual path. If the person lives beyond that 6-month frame of time, they may continuously receive care so long as the healthcare provider recertifies eligibility.
If your family member’s illness improves while in Atlanta hospices’ care or if they opt to pursue curative treatments instead of comfort care, they might discontinue care at any point and pursue additional options. Your family member might resume care at a later time if their situation declines.
Atlanta hospices work along with your family member’s doctor to ensure that they obtain the proper level of care at the proper time in the location that they choose.
What will hospice services do for my family members?
Hospice services are an extra layer of support for your family member in their care facility or home, working along with your loved one’s healthcare providers. Once the patient starts hospice care, they’ll receive a support staff for their spiritual, emotional, and physical needs. Besides this support staff, all medicine associated with a patient’s terminal condition and all medical supplies and equipment associated with the diagnosis are offered at no cost to the family of the patient.