Hospice Care
Compassionate, family-based end-of-life care
Visiting Nurse & Community Care provides hospice care for clients who are terminally ill. There are four main components of this program:
- Focus on quality of life
- Empowering clients to make their own decisions regarding how they want to be cared for
- Ensuring comfort through pain and symptom management
- Recognizing the special needs of caregivers and providing support to them
The decision to choose hospice care is a very personal one, involving not only the client but also their family, loved ones and the medical team. VNCC’s hospice care enables clients to live out their remaining days at home, in comfortable surroundings among family and friends. We provide emotional support and assistance – for the client and the family – as well as state-of-the-art palliative (pain management) care.
VNCC also helps the family access important information and resources during this challenging time.
Insurance coverage
Hospice care is generally covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most health insurance. Coverage includes the provision of medical equipment, supplies and medication related to the client’s hospice condition.
Types of Hospice Care
VNCC provides four levels of care:
- Routine
This is the most common level and enables the client to receive pain and symptom management, whether at home or in a healthcare setting.
- Respite
Designed to provide short-term relief for family caregivers, respite care places the client in a skilled nursing facility for up to five days.
- General In-Patient (GIP)
Some clients require a more intensive level of care for short-term pain and symptom management that cannot be adequately treated at home. In these cases, GIP services are offered in a hospital or skilled nursing facility.
- Continuous Care
This level consists of one-on-one skilled nursing care designed for short-term crisis intervention involving pain and symptom management. It is provided at home or in an assisted-living facility for all or part of the day.
Hospice Services
Providing compassionate hospice care requires a skilled, dedicated and empathetic team that is focused on the needs of the client and the family.
Services include:
- Pain and symptom management (palliative care)
- Skilled nursing
- On-call staff availability 24/7
- Consultations with the hospice medical director
- Rehabilitation therapy
- Social work services
- Nutritional counseling
- Home health aides
- Spiritual support (from interfaith chaplains)
- Bereavement counseling
- Volunteer support
- Pharmaceutical availability 24/7
- Medical supplies, equipment and medication
- Guidance and advocacy
- Massage therapy, reiki and other similar pain-reducing remedies
Who are hospice candidates?
VNCC Hospice Care accepts terminally-ill clients who prefer to focus on comfort. These illnesses include (but are not limited to):
- Cancer
- Cardiac disease
- Pulmonary disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Kidney/liver failure
- CVA (stroke)
- ALS
- Alzheimer’s disease
The client’s physician determines when hospice services are appropriate.
