The families who reside in and around Saint Rose are known for their sense of community, caring nature, and strong family values. Whenever difficult times occur, the families of Saint Rose have a reputation for pulling together and helping each other, just as they did when Katrina brought chaos upon Southern Louisiana’s communities. Regrettably, life itself has many storms, and while the forces of nature cause most storms, others are just a part of life. None more overwhelming than when somebody we care about develops a terminal illness. Even so, these storms happen to each of us. Inevitably, we will all need to deal with the loss of our loved ones because each of our lives will ultimately come to an end.
When a person we love is coming to the end of their life’s journey, most of us are poorly prepared and often at a loss as to where to look for the assistance we require to help us traverse this challenging and often unfamiliar aspect of life. In many circumstances, hospice is the solution we are in need of to support us with the difficulties of attending to our loved ones 24-7.
The majority of Saint Rose locals likely believe that hospice is a place which terminally ill people go to die. However, hospice isn’t a destination, and it is not about dying. The truth is, hospice is a compassionate, holistic medical care which improves the quality of life for the people in our care and their family caregivers. It also permits people who have a terminal illness to experience the best life attainable with the time that they have been given.
Hospice also allows people approaching the end of their lives to continue to live in Saint Rose and reside in their homes with their loved ones nearby them. As a matter of fact, around 90% of the people that embrace hospice as a treatment option continue to stay in their homes until their passing. It doesn’t matter if they live in a house, a retirement community, or an apartment in Saint Rose because hospice is almost always conducted in a patient’s home, regardless of the place they call home. Hospice Associates’ caring staff will travel to your Saint Rose home and deliver the compassionate care you or your loved one requires, and we will provide it whenever you or your loved one requires it, anytime, day or night. Hospice Associates is always just a phone call away.
How is it that one word could cause so much anxiety?
Why can one word often cause some people to cringe?
One word that a lot of people never want to hear…
The word is HOSPICE, and it’s not nearly as scary as some may think. Actually, hospice isn’t something we should fear… it is something we should all welcome.
Hospice was initially a shelter for those with a fatal illness– a place where the dying would go to live out the last days of their lives. Today hospice is no longer considered a destination. Instead, it is now viewed as more of a medical service that offers comfort and care to patients in their own homes. Regardless of whether that home is inside a nursing home, assisted living facility, family members’ home, or their own home. Hospice can be offered to patients regardless of just where they call home.
One of the primary myths concerning hospice I’ve run into is that a lot people frequently believe hospice is reserved exclusively for patients that may only have a few days left to live. The truth is hospice becomes accessible when a physician informs their patient that their condition is incurable and a cure is no longer a possibility.
My experience as a hospice nurse have offered me the to witness the blessing of what hospice care can provide to a family. Among the things I hear from family members is that wish they would have known hospice was an option long before they did. I believe this is because hospice reduces the burden placed on families and gives them peace of mind. Once they understand the relief hospice provides, families can begin to appreciate the time they have left with the ones they love.
I believe this is because the more quickly hospice is made available to a patient, the sooner they can let go of the stress and fear of being the only ones giving care to their family member. And when they see the relief hospice provides, they have the ability to start appreciating the short time they have left with their loved one.
We help walk families through every aspect of the disease process, so they can comprehend how illness will progress and what they should come to anticipate. Then when things arise, we are available to respond to all of their questions and tend to any worries they may have. With this knowledge and understanding, families shed the fear of the unfamiliar and are provided the resources they are in need of to help their loved ones throughout the dying process.
This is not only for our patients but also for their family members. Comfort is a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint. Hospice provides patients and family members spiritual, psychosocial, and physical comfort. Pain can be caused by many different things, but it is not restricted to just physical pain. I have found that spiritual pain could be equally challenging to lessen as physical pain is. Our chaplain and social workers strive together alongside our hospice nurses to treat each of the pains that can occur.
Hospice care can also help to clear away the limits you may believe your illness has placed upon you. Our goal is for you to be comfortable and live each moment you have left to the fullest with your loved ones.
Virtualy all hospice care is provided in-home, regardless of the place the patient calls home. Hospice Care can be offered at your private residence, retirement community, assisted living, group homes, or family residences.
Hospice care, even in-home hospice is usually 100% covered by Medicare and Medicaid, so hospice care is something every peson that requires can afford. Individual insurance can occassionaly help fund the expense of items Medicaid and Medicare may not cover.
Call Us: 504-457-2200
FAX: 504-457-2207
Physician managed hospice
and palliative care