Hospice: Providing Quality of Life at the End of Life

After being diagnosed with renal failure in his early 60s, my father was on dialysis for nine years. His decision to stop dialysis meant imminent death. As strong as our faith was (and is), those were difficult days for our family, but hospice care helped us through it.

Conversations about the end of life are not easy and hospice care is often misunderstood. That’s why I was privileged to have Sarah Garcia, Advent Health Hospice Care’s manager of marketing and business development, as my guest on The Crossman Conversation.

Sarah explained that hospice care is provided by an interdisciplinary team that keeps the patient and the family at the center of everything they do—and everything is done with dignity and compassion.

“The goal of hospice really is comfort care,” she said. “Studies have shown that people live longer when they’re on hospice than without. When you’re addressing all the different symptoms that come with end of life, such as the pain, the emotional distress, sometimes the spiritual aspects, we’re helping that patient have a better quality of life.”

Hospice care is an option when there is no longer any active or curative treatment being given for someone with a serious illness who is approaching the end of life. Services are generally provided wherever the patient is, whether it’s at home, in assisted living or nursing facilities, or in a hospital. Many hospices also have inpatient units for patients that need more interventions than can be managed at home.

The first modern hospice was founded by Cicely Saunders in 1967—yet more than 50 years later, myths about hospice care are common. Sarah talked about some of those myths and the wide range of benefits of hospice services.

“Once hospice comes in, the entire team is there to relieve not only what the patient’s going through, but provide support to the family,” she said. “They provide things like medical equipment the patient needs, supplies, medications. It can be financial, emotional, spiritual—all kinds of relief and support for the family and patient.”

Discussions about death can be difficult, but they’re important to have. And it’s also important to know what’s available to help you when the time comes. To learn more about the role hospice can play at the end of life, listen to my conversation with Sarah Garcia here:

https://www.theshepherdradio.com/podcasts/the-crossman-conversation/episode/s2e13-sarah-garcia-of-adventhealth-hospice-care-speaks-from-her-experience-in-this-most-important-form-of-care/

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John Crossman is the founder of Crossman Career Builders, the host of The Crossman Conversation, and the author of Career Killers Career Builders. Check out Crossman Career Builders on YouTube. Connect with John on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.