Is Mission Hospice The Answer?

Mission Hospice Care

Hospice is a compassionate, patient-centered approach to medical care for people that have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Hospice care is focused on maintaining dignity, increasing quality of life, and providing comfort, including pain and symptom management. Hospice care is for patients with a variety of diagnoses, including but not limited to, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.

Are you caring for an ailing friend or family member or looking for hospice information for yourself? Did you know that hospice is available to help , and is covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and most insurance companies? Hospice may be the answer for you if you answer yes to one of more of these questions.

Have you or your loved one...

1. Been hospitalized or to the emergency room more than once in the past six months?
2. Been making more frequent phone calls to your physicians?
3. Started taking medication to lessen physical pain?
4. Started spending most of the day in a chair or bed?
5. Fallen several times over the past six months?
6. Started needing help from others with two or more of the following: Bathing, Getting out of bed, Eating, Dressing, Walking?
7. Started feeling weaker or more tired?
8. Experienced weight loss so that clothes are noticeably looser?
9. Noticed a shortness of breath, even while resting?
10. Been told by a doctor that life expectancy is limited?

If you have answered yes to one or more of these questions, Hospice may be appripriate for you. For information about the Hospice/Medicare benefit, please contact us. We will be happy to provide you with the opportunity to visit with one of our qualified staff memebrs.

Eligibility Requirements

Many people mistakenly believe they know what a hospice patient should look like or that a hospice patient must be bed-bound, critically ill, and unable to continue living life to the fullest. In most cases, this couldn't be further from the truth.

Who is hospice-eligible?

The simple answer is this: the hospice benefit is available to anyone with a life expectancy of six months or less if the terminal illness or disease runs its normal course. The patient, of course, must choose to elect hospice, and the patient's eligibility must be certified by a physician (most often the patient's personal physician in conjunction with the hospice's medical director).

What are common diagnoses for patients receiving hospice?