LightBridge Hospice & Palliative Care FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
It is only natural to have questions regarding Hospice and Palliative Care. We've gathered many of the frequently asked questions and answered them here on our website. However, if you have a specific question and do not find answers here, feel free to call us at: 858-458-2992 or email.
What is Hospice?
Hospice is widely recognized as the model for quality, compassionate care for people facing a life limiting illness or injury. Hospice & Palliative Care involve a team oriented approach to expert medical care, pain management, emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the person's needs and wishes. Support is provided to the person's loved ones as well.
A common misconception people have is that Hospice means you're “giving up” or that there is nothing left for the doctor to do and that's absolutely wrong. Hospice is not about giving up, but it is about enhancing the quality of life no matter how long that may be.
Who can receive Hospice care?
Any person facing the advancing stages of any life limiting illness may receive Hospice services if the following conditions are met:
- Aggressive treatments are not working or providing relief to the patient
- The patient or their legal representative elects to receive Hospice care
- The patient, family and physician agree and understand that the focus of care is on comfort, pain control, symptom management, emotional and spiritual support, not on cure
Why Choose Hospice?
Hospice cares for the entire family, not just the terminally ill family member. Hospice focuses on enhancing the quality of life no matter how long that might be. Through services such as symptom relief for the patient and emotional, spiritual and practical support, patients and their families can prepare for death in ways that are meaningful to them. Hospice provides dignity in dying for patients and their loved ones.
What Services Does LightBridge Hospice Provide?
Hospice care includes a wide variety of services to relieve the patient and family of many of the burdens associated with a terminal illness.
Hospice patients are cared for by a team of doctors, nurses, social workers, certified Hospice aides, clergy and volunteers. Together, they form the interdisciplinary team, which develops a detailed plan of care for each Hospice patient based on the specific needs and desires of each patient and family.
The Plan of Care, which is coordinated by the Registered Nurse assigned to the patient and overseen by the patient's physician, specifies the services to be provided, which team members will provide those services, how often they will visit and the goals for the care they provide. In addition, LightBridge provides medications, supplies and equipment related to the Hospice diagnosis. A registered nurse is on call 24 hours per day, seven days a week to assist with any needs a patient may have.
Does Hospice do anything to make death come sooner?
No. The goal of Hospice is to help patients live every day to its fullest with the greatest level of physical, emotional and spiritual comfort possible. LightBridge recognizes dying as a natural process. Hospice does not work to hasten death, but enhances the quality of life that remains and provides support to caregivers.
In fact, recent studies have shown that some patients with similar diagnoses who receive hospice care live longer than those who don't.
Is Hospice care only for cancer patients?
Hospice is a program that had originally been associated with the terminally ill cancer patient. Current practice makes it available for any terminally ill person in the end stages of cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, heart disease, or other life limiting diseases or conditions. While the majority of patients are older, the program is available to anyone - regardless of age, sex, religion or disease - who has been diagnosed by a physician as having a life expectancy of six months or less. The care that is provided is not meant to cure the person. It is palliative, which is care aimed at relieving or reducing discomfort.
Where is Hospice care provided?
Hospice is a philosophy of care, not a place. Hospice care can be provided wherever a patient lives including:
- Personal Homes
- Residential Care Facilities
- Assisted Living Facilities
- Long Term Care Facilities
How is Hospice different from other types of home health?
Interdisciplinary Team Approach:
In Hospice, all members of the care team - physicians, nurses, social workers, spiritual care coordinators, hospice aides and volunteers - work together to coordinate and deliver care.
Family Focus:
Hospice care focuses on the entire family. The Hospice team supports the family in caring for their loved one and provides spiritual and psychological support to both the patient and their family members.
Comfort vs. Cure:
For most home health care providers, the goal is to make the patient well. With Hospice care, the staff and family recognize that the patient will not get well if the disease process follows its normal course. The focus is on comfort and support rather than cure.
Grief Support:
Hospice care does not end when a patient dies. Hospice staff maintain contact with the family for one year after the death of a patient to help them deal with their loss.
How does Hospice address pain management?
The LightBridge team assesses and treats not only the patient's physical pain but they also address the emotional and spiritual pain of the patient, family and caregivers.
The goal of our pain management program is to continually maintain a balance between the alleviation of pain and a patient's functional level so that the patient can continue to optimally interact with loved ones. Hospice nurses and doctors are specially trained in the use of a variety of pain medications and other techniques for pain and symptom relief.
Spiritual and psychological pain is experienced by both patients and loved ones. This is addressed by the entire team, with particular emphasis on the assessment and support provided by our spiritual care coordinators and social workers.
What is the role of the patient's physician in Hospice care?
The patient's physician may remain responsible for their care and work in collaboration with the LightBridge nurses and team members serving the patient. In addition, the Hospice Medical Director is always available for consultation on pain management or other specific care issues.
Who can refer a patient to LightBridge Hospice?
Anyone can refer a patient to LightBridge. Many referrals originate with the patient's physician or with the staff of the facility where the patient lives. Others come from hospital discharge planners, social workers or patient's families. To be admitted, a patient must agree to treatment aimed at comfort rather than cure and have an advancing disease process which results in a limited life expectancy as certified by his or her physician and the Hospice physician.
When is the right time to consider Hospice?
At any time during a life limiting illness it is important to consider all care options, including Hospice. Hospice becomes an appropriate choice when curative treatments are no longer effective and the patient and physician believe that comfort care is the right choice.
It is helpful to remember that Hospice professionals agree they can be more effective when given optimal time to guide patients and their families through the challenging maze of concerns. The sooner the Hospice team is in place, the more time patients and families are afforded to focus on the quality of their relationships and living life to its fullest.
What if the patient gets better?
With the increased care and support provided by the Hospice team, a patient's condition may significantly improve. If the patient's condition improves and stabilizes they may be discharged from Hospice. If the patient should need to return to Hospice care at some point in the future, LightBridge can assist with readmission.
Who pays for the cost of care provided by LightBridge?
Hospice care is covered by Medicare, Medi-Cal and most private insurance companies. LightBridge can assist you in determining what specific benefits are available from your insurance carrier or HMO.
Does Hospice care end when the patient dies?
No. The Hospice team provides continuing support and bereavement services to families for the year following their loved ones' death.