Eligibility

Eligibility

Hospice care is available to anyone who is terminally ill with a limited life expectancy of six months or less; there are no age restrictions. The patient’s physician and the hospice Medical Director will certify the illness and work together to develop a care plan tailored to a patient’s individual need for pain management and symptom relief. As well as cancer patients, hospice can greatly benefit those people with ALS, renal disease, heart disease, pulmonary disease, neurological disorders and Alzheimer’s disease.

Bereavement counseling is available to friends and family affected by the loss for up to 13 months after the death of a loved one. This support may be provided through phone calls, mailings, grief counseling, art therapy, memorial services and support groups.

Qualifying Events

• Increased or uncontrolled pain
• Progressive weight loss
• Decline in ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs)
• Frequent infections
• Frequent hospital or ER visits
• Increased weakness and/or fatigue
• Withdrawal, confusion, bedbound
• Progressive decline, in spite of curative medical therapies

Levels of Care

Throughout an illness, a patient may require different levels of care. Typically, hospice patients receive routine hospice care in the home or an extended care facility. However, to receive routine hospice in the extended care facility, the patient must be privately paying for room and board, since this is viewed as a residence. Our goal is to keep patients in their home, but due to some circumstances such as uncontrolled pain or symptoms, it may be necessary to provide hospice services at a different level of care. The levels of care are listed below:

Routine Care

Nursing, social work, chaplain, hospice aide, homemaker and volunteer services are provided to patients in the home or extended care facility.

Continuous Care

Nursing care is provided eight to twenty-four hours a day in times of medical crisis for pain and symptom control. This can often minimize the need for hospitalization.

Acute Inpatient Care

Hospice can provide short-term inpatient care for pain control or symptom management in a facility approved by SouthEast Hospice. If your level of care changes while under hospice services and an ambulance is necessary, it will be arranged by SouthEast Hospice.

Respite Care

To relieve a caregiver’s burden, Hospice will provide short-term respite care for patients in a setting other than the home. This level of care must be provided in a SouthEast Hospice- approved facility.

Our Interdisciplinary Care

• Pain & symptom management
• Nursing care
• Personal care from Hospice Aide
• 24 hour on-call service with Registered Nurse
• Medical equipment
• Medical supplies
• Medications related to the hospice diagnosis
• Social work services and counseling
• Dietary & nutritional counseling
• Spiritual counseling
• Bereavement support for caregivers & family members
• Volunteer services
• Respite care, continuous care, and general inpatient care