Adjust Expectations

Many families have some firmly entrenched holiday traditions. When a family member is in hospice care, it’s incredibly difficult for families to continue with those traditions. Managing expectations around what is possible and what isn’t during this time is really important because it helps everyone in the family get on the same page.

Consider Comfort

Hospice care is all about ensuring that the patient is as comfortable as possible. During the holiday season, comfort is even more important. Decorating with familiar items might be important, for instance. It can also help to combine those familiar decorations and events with soothing elements, like softer lighting.

Prioritize Meaningful Events

During the holidays, everyone is spread a little thinner than usual. That means it might be better to focus on quality rather than quantity. Smaller, more relaxed gatherings can help to allow everyone to spend time with the person who is near the end of life in a more meaningful way. It’s all about making those moments special and less intimidating.

Keep Patients Involved

When patients who are near death can remain involved in these types of decisions, it’s important to involve them in the planning while not overwhelming them. They might have preferences on decorations, activities, or ways to help family members celebrate more simply. Keeping patients involved helps them to feel connected and included, especially at this difficult time.

Stay Flexible

It’s important to stay flexible during the holidays no matter what else is going on. But when a beloved family member is in hospice care, it’s even more urgent to keep flexibility in mind. Plans often need to be adjusted on short notice based on everything from energy levels to changing health needs.

Capture Memories

Some parts of the holiday celebration may not be something that hospice patients can attend themselves. It’s a good idea to capture memories, take pictures, shoot videos, and more, all to share with the patient later. It’s also important to capture memories with the person who is near death so that families have those memories at future celebrations to share with everyone.

Practice Gratitude

The holidays are about gratitude and celebrating moments of reflection. It can be so difficult to feel gratitude when a beloved family member is dying, but it’s important to find those moments of gratitude and embrace them. This can help with managing feelings as a family member’s health continues to worsen.

Celebrating the holidays when a family member needs the help of hospice care is a time when families need to plan thoughtfully. Hospice can help to implement plans that allow families to celebrate the joyful aspects of the season while also respectfully memorializing the family member they’re losing.

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring Hospice Care Services in Woodbury NJ, please contact the caring staff at Attentive Care Inc. at 1-800-493-5660.

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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.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Hospice Care in Mount Laurel, NJ, please contact the caring staff at Attentive Care Inc. at 1-800-493-5660

The post How Are Hospice Care and Palliative Care Different? appeared first on Attentive Care, Inc..

Your Senior’s Physical Health Has Declined Significantly

If your elderly family member’s health has taken a shift for the worse, either seemingly overnight or over a longer span of time, she may feel like there is not much else she can really do about that. Hospice elder care can help her to have additional ways to manage those new symptoms that she may be experiencing. Problems such as losing too much weight, experiencing constant shortness of breath, and other issues just make her existing health problems feel more complicated.

Or Her Cognitive Health Has Significantly Changed

But it isn’t just physical health. Your senior’s cognitive health can also be a huge indicator of how well she’s doing. If she sees big changes, especially reduction, in her cognitive health, it might be time to consider changes like hospice care. Cognitive changes can be a result of illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease, but there are other possible causes, including things you wouldn’t suspect, like hearing loss or diabetes. These illnesses can affect her overall health to the point that her brain health also can suffer.

Your Senior Is Ready to Stop Curative Treatments

Curative therapies and treatments have their place and they’re a big part of your elderly family member’s care plan, probably for a long time. If those treatments become too much for your senior, she might opt to stop them. Some of the treatments that she may have counted on making a difference for her health may feel as if they take more out of her than they offer back in terms of quality of life. Hospice treatments can shift things for her so that your elderly family member can focus on being comfortable instead.

Your Senior Is Even Closer to the End of Her Life

If your elderly family member’s doctor has let her know that she’s even closer to the end of her life than she expected, hospice may feel like a better option. Your senior’s doctor may recommend hospice care when her lifespan is estimated to be six months or less. That doesn’t mean that your senior’s doctor is definitively saying she’ll only live for the next six months and if hospice care needs to be extended, your senior can be recertified to receive that type of care.

Talk with your elderly family member’s doctor about your concerns with your senior’s overall health and her needs. When hospice elder care is the right choice, you’ll have several markers that help you to understand that it really is time to embrace that sort of treatment plan.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Senior Care in Turnersville, NJ, please contact the caring staff at Attentive Care Inc. at 1-800-493-5660

The post Four Ways You Can Tell it May Be Time for Hospice Care  appeared first on Attentive Care, Inc..