Every year, more than 1.58 million people living with a life-limiting illness receive care from hospice palliative care providers in the U.S. During National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, Calvert Hospice along with other providers across the country is raising awareness of the many benefits of hospice palliative care.
More than traditional medical care
Hospice palliative care provides expert pain management, symptom control, emotional support, and spiritual care to patients and family caregivers when a cure is not possible. Care is provided by a highly trained team of professionals and volunteers.
Most hospice care in the U.S. is provided in the home – allowing people to be with their families and loved ones in comfortable surroundings at the end of life. Brenda Laughhunn, Executive Director for Calvert Hospice, adds that Calvert County has another caring option that many others do not, “We have our Burnett-Calvert Hospice House. We like to say, ‘It is the house that love built’. It is a testimony of the shared compassion of Calvert County’s residents and organizations that helped it become a reality. It now offers another option for home-like care to our Calvert families.”
Research by NHPCO has found that 94 percent of families who had a loved one cared for by hospice rated the care as very good to excellent. Laughhun add, “We receive these same affirmations from our families. It is wonderful to know our team is making this kind of impact. However, our families repeatedly state that they wish they had known more about what hospice would have provided earlier in the care of their loved one. I am making it my mission to see that future Calvert Hospice families will not share this regret. The keys to changing this include encouraging families to have this important conversation about their wishes, to empower individuals to expect their physicians to honor their healthcare wishes and life values, and to invite anyone to contact us about how hospice can help them. People would be best served if they would talk to us before there is a life threatening illness or at least earlier on when they learn that they are facing a serious, life-limiting illness, whether that is cancer, dementia, end-stage heart, lung, renal disease or others. One of the ways we do this is through our Calvert Hospice Speaker’s Bureau. It is free and available to any organization or group in Calvert County.”
“Hospice makes sure that people receive comfort, love and respect during one of life’s most significant experiences – the journey at life’s end,” said J. Donald Schumacher, PsyD, president and CEO of NHPCO. “The compassionate way that hospice helps maximize the quality of life is at the center of this year’s hospice month theme.”
The 2012 outreach theme for National Hospice and Palliative
