Place:
Hospice: The number of hospice programs is far greater than palliative care programs. After a patient receives a referral from their primary doctor, they can then be enrolled in a hospice program. Once enrolled a patient will receive care in the home from hospice professionals. Alvita Care provides a range of senior care services that are delivered by highly qualified professionals who share the same commitment to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of clients and those who love and care for them.
Palliative Care: Palliative care requires a team of specialists including nurses, doctors, and professional home caregivers. Most commonly care is administered at the facility where the patient first received treatment. This team of professionals will provide care and manage most of the comfort care received by the patient. Palliative care is administered at home from a team of specially trained medical professionals.
The Alvita Care Palliative Care team will assist you in managing your condition and your treatment so that you can experience improved:
- Symptom relief from pain, fatigue, nausea, constipation, numbness, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, and problems with sleep.
- The strength that allows a patient to continue with their daily life
- Medical treatment tolerance.
- Knowing your condition and understanding your choices of medical care
Timing
Hospice Home Care: You must generally be considered to be terminal or within six months of death to be eligible for most hospice programs or to receive hospice benefits from your insurance.
Palliative Home Care: There are no time constraints for palliative care. Palliative care can be received during any stage of ill health, terminal or not.
Treatment
Hospice: Most hospice programs concentrate primarily upon comfort rather than trying to slow down the later stages of aggressive disease. By choosing to no longer make efforts into long-term prolonging of life, patients with hospice care can concentrate on getting the most out of the time they have left. Allowing them to avoid some negative side-effects that can come with life-prolonging treatments. Most hospice patients are able to achieve comfort allowing them to focus on the emotional and practical issues of dying.
Palliative Care: Because palliative care has no time limits to when care can be received, it acts as a way to fill the gap for those who need and want comfort through any stage of the disease, both terminal or chronic. There are no expectations that a palliative care program, will avoid life-prolonging therapies.
Patient Eligibility:
Getting Palliative Care at Home is Easy. Just Ask For It.
You may already have been referred to a palliative care team, but if not, it’s important to ask your doctor for a referral. Alvita Care Palliative Care teams work together with primary physicians, so individuals do not have to give up their own doctors.
This is a general outline for hospice and palliative care programs. There are going be exceptions since each case is different. Some palliative programs will provide care that focuses on end-of-life care, and some hospice care programs concentrate more on life-prolonging treatments. Consult your physician or care administrator for the best service for you.
Read more on Hospice Home Care in NYC here:
Hospice Care: The 3 Questions You Must Ask Your Caregiver
