Stage Four, section 3: Hospice Care

As your care recipient nears the end of his or her life, consider the comprehensive care provided by hospice.

Medicare offers a hospice benefit that will cover almost all the costs of caring for a dying person during the last six months of life. To be eligible, your care receiver must have Medicare Part A, the doctor and medical director of the hospice must confirm a life expectancy of less than six months, and the person to receive services must agree that no more attempts to cure illness will be made. Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or visit the Medicare web site, www.medicare.gov to get Medicare Hospice benefit information.

Having hospice care may mean that your care receiver can remain at home or in an assisted living facility if it coordinates with hospice rather than having to move to a nursing home. It will free you from some caregiving responsibilities, giving you more time to spend with your care receiver just enjoying each other's company. Hospice also provides support for you as a caregiver before, during, and after the death of your care receiver.

In Pasco County there are two Hospice providers. Gulfside Regional Hospice has a website at www.gulfsideregionalhospice.org Hernando-Pasco Hospice also serves Pasco. Visit their website at www.hph-hospice.org. In Pinellas County, Florida, Suncoast Hospice provides these services in homes, nursing homes, hospitals, and home-like Hospice facilities. They also have a program called Bridges Community Bereavement Services, available to grieving persons in the community whether or not their deceased was a Hospice patient. These grief support groups are offered at various locations throughout Pinellas County. For more information about these services, call Suncoast Hospice at 727-586-4432 or visit their web site, www.thehospice.org. This web site has links to more than a dozen related web sites. Here are two examples:

• The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, www.nhpco.org, offers consumer brochures called "Communicating Your End of Life Wishes" and "Medicare Hospice Benefits." View online, request a copy online, or call 1-800-658-8898. This site provides nationwide hospice information.

• Menorah Manor's web site, www.menorahmanor.org, describes the Toby Weinman Jewish Hospice Program. Menorah Manor and Hospice of the Florida Suncoast are working together to provide hospice and palliative care in a context of Jewish beliefs and cultural practices. The program is available in Menorah Manor and also in the community.

Note: The words "palliative care", when used in connection with hospice care and pain management, implies care meant for comfort rather than to cure a disease. Palliative care seeks to address not only physical pain but also emotional, social, and spiritual pain to achieve the best quality of life for patients and their families.

For more information about bereavement support groups and counseling, see Stage 4, section 6.

Next: Common Concerns of the Dying.