byAlma Abell

While curative care leads to a cure for a condition or disease, palliative care is used in hospice care situations. Also known as palliative care, hospice care is compassionate care, and it is designed to make a patient who is suffering from a life-limiting illness more comfortable.

As a result, hospice care, or palliative care, concentrates on caring for a patient in a hospice facility or his or her home. While hospice care is available to patients of all ages, it is often part of senior care assistance programs or initiatives.

The Hospice Staff

When hospice care is introduced for an older person, a hospice care team develops a plan that will meet the specific needs of the patient. The plan is designed to manage the patient’s pain and symptoms. A senior care assistance team of this type includes the following members:

• The patient’s physician
• A hospice doctor
• Nurses
• Health aides
• Social workers
• Clergy members
• Volunteers
• Speech, occupational, or physical therapists, as required

The Services That Are Provided

This interdisciplinary team provides the following services:

• Management of the patient’s pain and illness
• Assistance with the spiritual and psycho-social aspects of dying
• Provision of the necessary drugs, equipment, and medical supplies
• Support of the family’s efforts toward care
• Provision of certain services, such as speech therapy
• Provision of bereavement counseling to survivors

As a result, palliative care is just as important as curative care. The idea is to help the patient feel more comfortable during this final phase of his or her life. Normally, this type of care starts as soon as a referral or request is made by the patient’s physician.

The care normally begins within 24 or 48 hours of the request. In more urgent circumstances, care almost begins immediately. The medical team is specially trained to ensure that the patient remains comfortable.

Services are provided at a hospice facility, in a nursing home, or at the place where the patient resides. You can find out more about palliative and hospice care by visiting the website for Sacred Journey Hospice at Sacredjourneyhospice.com. You can also follow them on Twitter for more updates.