Hospice Care Helps Your Parent Through Their Final Months Of Life So They're Comfortable And Peaceful
If you're a caregiver for a parent with a terminal condition such as cancer or end-stage COPD, consider talking to their doctor about getting assistance from hospice. Hospice helps provide care so your parent is peaceful and comfortable during their final months of life. This benefits your parent and it also helps you since you'll have help with caregiving. Here's how hospice care works.
Your Parent Must Qualify
Hospice is a type of home care that's provided during the final months of life. Your parent's doctor determines when your parent is eligible based on how long your parent is expected to live. Your parent may not qualify at the beginning of their illness, but as their condition declines and their expected lifespan gets shorter, their doctor can make the determination to order hospice care, and your parent's insurance will cover the cost.
Your Parent Stays At Home To Receive Palliative Care
When your parent starts hospice care, they no longer receive treatments designed to cure their condition. Instead, they only receive palliative care, or care designed to keep them comfortable in their final months. That means your parent will stay at home rather than go to a hospital for care unless hospital care is needed to control pain or keep your parent comfortable.
Hospice Provides Everything Your Parent Needs
Once your parent is accepted into hospice care, everything they need, including medications, is provided through hospice. Medical equipment, aides, and nursing care are provided according to what you and your parent need.
Hospice can provide sitters so you can leave for the day for self-care. They may even provide extended care if you need to leave town for a few days. They'll help with grooming and caring for your parent to relieve some of the physical care from you and to reduce the risk of your parent developing bedsores and other complications due to improper care.
Unless you work in the medical profession, you might not know how to care for someone who is terminally ill and bedridden. That's why hospice is helpful for you as a caregiver and beneficial for your parent. Your parent will be more comfortable if they don't develop issues with bedsores or bladder infections.
You and your parent can even receive counseling from hospice. This may help your parent accept their situation better and help you cope with watching a parent decline and pass away. You may even be offered grief counseling once your parent has passed.
Hospice care is a big help when you're struggling physically and emotionally with caregiving during your parent's final stage of life. While your parent also receives all the support they need as they pass from this life, you'll receive help and support too so you can feel like you did all you could to keep your parent happy and comfortable as their condition declined.
For more information, contact a local company, like Good Heart Hospice.