Palliative/Comfort Care & Hospice - End Of Life Care

Both Palliative Care and Hospice Care focus on your Medical Care to ensure your comfortable. You do not need to be at the End of Life for a Palliative Care Team visit. Palliative Care consultations can be completed on anyone in a hospital; ensuring all aspects of you being comfortable are being best managed. Hospice Care is End of Life Care for the terminally Ill patient; they are usually expected to live  6 months or less (yes many do live longer). At the time of diagnosis or due to their condition or disease status, life is anticipated to be shorter. Both services have a multi-disciplinary team of Doctors, Nurses, Social Workers, Physical, Occupational & Speech Therapists, Respiratory Therapists, Pastoral Care (Priest, Pastors or a Lay Person) and dieticians to discuss together with you and often your family; your wishes, your concerns and develop a plan together to ensure all of your needs are being met.  Medicare and most Insurances cover Hospice Services, but not always ongoing Palliative care. It is certainly best and recommended to call your Insurance Carrier regarding coverages and or limitations or not under your plan. Home Hospice Services under Medicare pays for intermittent staffing to care for patients at home but doesn't provide coverage for 24/7 in person care. Medical Equipment and most prescription medications related to the treatment of your End of Life care needs are covered under hospice vs none of these are covered under Palliative Care. Hospice usually provides emotional support for you, your family and that continued family support remains for up to 1 yr after death as needed. 

No one ever wants to think about or discuss the end of Life, but we are all born and eventually we will all pass away. Advanced Care Planning, puts you in control of your death and what measures you would like or not like when your time of death is near. When you complete the forms, it can be the most powerful gift to your loved ones. They now will know your End of Life Care wishes regarding; Life Support, Breathing and Feeding Tubes, Nursing Homes, Organ Donation and so much more. Hopefully you will not need these for many years to come, but when you do they will be completed and your wishes known.

Natural Herbal and Plant remedies have been used for centuries and is often considered as Complimentary, Holistic and/or Integrative Medicine.  Many Tertiary Treatment centers now offer Integrative Medicine in their therapeutic, multi-disciplinary treatment planning.  For anyone combining traditional treatment/medications with herbal therapies it can be very tricky as well as potentially dangerous/life threatening for anyone uneducated in this area. Herbal Remedies are not monitored by the FDA or any governing body and can have significant negative side effects when combined with prescription medications.  Please reach out to a specialist like an Integrative Medicine physician before adding or changing your treatment plan when herbals are involved.