Finding the exact right resources for your senior often means determining which ones are appropriate for her condition. Many people find palliative care to be very similar to hospice, but there are big differences.
Palliative Care Is Available Much Earlier
Palliative care is available to your elderly family member at any stage after being diagnosed with a chronic health condition. It’s a type of care that works alongside the curative therapies that she might already be trying with her medical team. This is a type of care that can help to educate your senior about her health issue and understand what she can do to help manage her condition more effectively.
Both Help Your Senior to Feel Better
Both palliative care and hospice care work to help your senior to feel better and to have the best quality of life that she can have, even with her health issues. These types of care work to manage symptoms, including pain, and to do so in a way that is less likely to interfere with your senior’s daily life. Feeling better may not solve your senior’s problems or cure her illness, but it definitely makes each day a little better.
Both Can Help Your Senior to Stay Out of the Hospital
Heading into the hospital due to health issues is expensive and it can really damage your elderly family member’s morale. Both of these types of care work toward helping your senior to stay out of the hospital as much as possible. And the less she’s venturing to the hospital, the healthier she’s likely to remain overall.
Hospice Care Is Recommended if Your Senior Has Six Months or Fewer Left
In general, hospice care is recommended for people who have six months, or possibly fewer, left to live. That’s not something that is easily predicted, of course, so if your elderly family member does have a longer time, she can recertify for hospice and continue to receive that care. Your senior’s doctor can help her to know for sure whether hospice is right for this time in her life. The timing aspect of hospice is not something to worry about as much as whether your senior’s condition has deteriorated to such an extent that this type of care is necessary.
Hospice Is a Holistic Type of Care
Overall, hospice is considered to be a holistic type of care because it assists your senior with her physical well-being, but also her emotional and spiritual well-being as necessary. There’s also support for your senior’s entire family, including assistance with bereavement support. Your elderly family member’s situation affects everyone in the family, and hospice care services work toward ensuring that everyone involved has the care and the help that they need.
Hospice care is an important part of making sure that your senior has the care and the support that she needs at the end of her life. If you’re not sure whether your elderly family member truly needs this type of care, her medical providers can help you to determine whether it’s time for this degree of help.