November is National Hospice & Palliative Care Month

November
is National Hospice & Palliative Care Month and hospice programs
across the country are reaching out to raise awareness, using the theme: "It's
about how you live."
Hospice care enables patients and families to focus on
living as fully as possible despite a life-limiting illness. This is done
through expert pain management, symptom control, psychosocial support, and
spiritual care to patients and their families when a cure is not possible.
According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, every year
in the U.S. nearly 1.4 million people living with a life-limiting illness
receive care from hospices.
In early 2015 PBS Frontline premiered their documentary, "Being Mortal," that vividly illustrates the value of having thoughtful conversations of how we each want to be cared for if faced with a serious, potentially life-limiting illness. Niagara Hospice has purchased the DVD and offers it to community groups, businesses and organizations as an educational resource with the goal of encouraging us all to begin the conversation.
The film follows
New Yorker writer and Boston surgeon, Atul Gawande, as he studies relationships
that exist between health care workers and patients as they near the end of
life. The documentary mirrors Atul Gawande's book, Being Mortal: Medicine
and What Matters in the End, as it explores how patients with terminal
diagnoses are often cared for and how many doctors, Gawande included, are not
properly trained and prepared to be comfortable confronting sensitive
situations, such as chronic illness and nearing death. The documentary explores
the concepts behind palliative and hospice care.
Towards the latter part of the
film Gawande shifts to end-of-life medicine, promoting hospice as a model of
care. Highlighting one of the most important questions that should be asked in
these situations, "What are your priorities if your time is limited?"
Gawande explains that by centering conversations on this question, health care
providers can empower patients to live their lives fully.
Being Mortal shines a light on how patients, families, and doctors all experience the end stages of life, and encourages conversation about how to live life to the fullest extent possible. Gawande recognizes that there is no perfect solution when it comes to end of life care. However, he simply asks us all to commit to creating better options for patients to have a purposeful and good life until the very end.
One of the
challenges hospice professionals face in providing quality end-of-life care is
lack of knowledge. Hospice care is appropriate for individuals with a prognosis
of approximately six months or less to live - if the disease were to run its
normal course. Some patients live beyond six months.
Several studies have shown that people with a terminal illness who choose hospice care
often live longer and with better quality of life than those who do not take
advantage of their hospice benefit. Hospice services are a fully covered Medicare
benefit. Most other insurance providers also cover hospice care, so cost of
care should never be a barrier to accessing what is known as the gold standard
of end of life care.
The time to learn
about hospice is before you need it, so you can make an informed decision about
how you want to be treated when death is near. Going through the process of
establishing a health care proxy is also an important learning experience.
Francis Bacon said: "For knowledge itself is power." You have the power to
give, and receive, peace of mind - and prevent tough choices. The best way to
be sure your wishes are followed and to provide peace of mind to your loved
ones is to begin the conversation and appoint a Health Care Proxy.
More information about hospice, palliative care, and advance care planning is available at NiagaraHospice.org or from NHPCO's CaringInfo.org website.