Getting To Yes: Overcoming The Barriers To Hospice Care

Mrs. J. was in the advanced stages of congestive heart failure, and her condition was worsening. Although it was clear she didn't have long to live, her son was adamant: He did not want hospice care for his mother. Looking for a way to bridge the divide, the clinicians at Mrs. J's nursing home called on Michelle Drayton, community outreach director for the Visiting Nurse Service of New York's Hospice and Palliative Care division, to meet with the son and discuss what hospice services were available to his mother and to him, and what they really involved. "The son told me that he didn't want to 'give up' on his mother, and that if he accepted hospice services he felt he would be doing just that, by abandoning medical treatment for her condition," recalls Michelle. As the director of VNSNY's Hospice Outreach Program Effort, or HOPE, she's heard this--and other misperceptions about hospice--many times before. Patiently, Michelle explained to him that patients like his mother are eligible, as part of their Medicare benefits, for a full suite of services designed to improve their quality of life in their final months. His mother's hospice care team would include nurses, social workers, spiritual care advisors and, crucially, the patient's own doctors. What's more, these services could be delivered at home or in a nursing home. "We talked about how hospice would enhance Mrs. J's quality of life, by reducing her pain and increasing her comfort," says Michelle. "The more we spok...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news