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The people who reside in and near Terrytown are well known for their civic pride, generous nature, and strong family values. When challenging times happen, the residents of Terrytown have a history of coming together and helping one another, just as they did when Katrina brought destruction upon Louisiana’s parishes. Regrettably, life has many storms, and while the forces of nature brings most storms, others are simply part of living. Likely none more traumatizing than when someone we care for develops an incurable illness. Even so, these storms happen to each of us. Eventually, we all will have to suffer through the passing of our loved ones because each of our lives will ultimately come to its end.
When a person we love is reaching the end of their earthly life, most of us are poorly prepared and oftentimes at a loss as to where to look for the assistance we need to help us through this challenging and often unfamiliar aspect of life. In many instances, hospice care is the answer we are looking for to support us through the challenges of looking after our loved ones 24 hours a day.
The majority of Terrytown natives probably believe that hospice is a facility that sick people go to die. However, hospice isn’t a place, and it isn’t about dying. In reality, hospice is a compassionate, holistic medical treatment which improves the quality of life for our patients and their family caregivers. It also enables individuals diagnosed with a terminal condition to live the best life possible with the time that they have remaining.
Hospice also makes it possible for people nearing the end of their lives to continue to live in Terrytown and live in their homes with their family members around them. In fact, nearly ninety percent of the folks who choose hospice as a treatment continue to stay in their homes until their passing. It does not matter if they live in a house, a retirement community, or an apartment in Terrytown because hospice is almost always conducted in a patient’s home, irrespective of where they call home. Hospice Associates’ experienced staff will travel to your Terrytown home and deliver the compassionate care you or your loved one requires, and we will provide it whenever you or your loved one needs it, anytime, day or night. Hospice Associates is no more than a phone call away.
How is it that one word can produce so much fear?
How does one particular word cause some people to cringe?
One word that most people never want to hear…
The word is HOSPICE, and it’s not as frightening as one may make it out to be. Hospice shouldn’t be a thing to be feared, it is something to be welcomed.
Hospice was originally a home for those with a fatal illness– a place where the dying would go to live out the remainder of their lives. Today hospice is no longer thought of as a place. Instead, it is now thought of as a service that delivers comfort and care to terminally ill patients in their homes. Regardless of whether that home is within a nursing home, assisted living facility, a member of the families’ house, or their own individual home. Hospice can be provided to patients regardless of the location they consider home.
One of the leading misconceptions relating to hospice I have come across is that many people frequently think hospice is only for patients that may only have a few days left to live. The reality is hospice becomes accessible when a physician tells their patient that their disease is incurable and a cure is no longer attainable.
My experience as a hospice nurse have offered me the chance to experience the beauty of what hospice care provides to a family. One of the things I commonly hear from families is that many 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 provides them peace of mind. Once they understand the relief hospice offers, families can start to enjoy the short time they have left with the ones they love.
I think this is because the more quickly hospice is offered to a patient, the sooner they can let go of the stress and fear of being the only ones providing care to their loved one. And once they understand the freedom it provides, they can start appreciating the time they have left with their loved one.
First, we take friends and families through every phase of the disease process, so they see just how the illness will progress and what they can come to expect. Then, as things arise, we are available to answer each of their questions and address any concerns they may have. Because of this knowledge and understanding, families lose the fear of the unfamiliar and are provided the resources they are in need of to help their loved ones throughout the process of dying.
This is not only for our patients but also for their families. 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 several things, but it is not confined to just physical pain. I have come to realize that spiritual pain could be equally as challenging to relieve as physical suffering is. Our chaplain and social workers labor together alongside our nurses to attend to all of the pains that can be present.
Hospice can also help to clear away the limitations you might believe your condition has put on you. Our objective 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, irrespective of the place the patient calls home. Hospice can be given at your private home, retirement community, assisted living, group homes, or family homes.
Any person, whether a member of the family, patient, close friend, doctor or medical professional, may make a referral to Hospice Associates. Recommendations are completely confidential. If you know of somebody that is in need of our services, contact us at 504-457-2200 to discuss whether or not we may be a good fit for the individual you have concerns about.
The ideal opportunity to learn more about hospice care is well before you or somebody you care for really needs it. However it’s never too late to find out about hospice care or to talk about hospice with your family. By discussing hospice well in advance, you ensure that everyone affected has a thorough understanding of what is available to them.
No, individuals of all ages with a life-limiting illness are able to receive hospice treatment.
Yes. Your family physician is part of our team. We will communicate and work with your physician to better understand your individual needs.
To receive hospice, you don’t have to be sedentary. Our goal is to help our patients live life to the fullest. We encourage people in our care to do whatever they feel up to and continue to keep on doing the things that bring them joy.What helps make hospice so special is that it puts emphasis on patient care and not on a cure. Hospice makes it possible for people that have developed a life-limiting illness to determine the way they would like to spend the rest of their life. Hospice care attends to the whole person, and their family is viewed as part of the care unit. It emphasizes pain management and enjoying life fully.
Hospice services, even in-home hospice care is almost always completely covered by Medicare and Medicaid, so hospice care is something everybody that requires can afford. Individual insurance can sometimes help subsidize the expense of things Medicare and Medicaid might not cover.
Hospice Associates offers hospice and palliative care to every qualified* person that resides within a fifty mile radius of New Orleans, including Terrytown.
Hospice volunteers are generally available to provide different types of support to patients and their loved ones, often including:
Call Us: 504-457-2200
FAX: 504-457-2207
Physician managed hospice
and palliative care