Hospice
We are located in the basement of the Medical Pharmacy building next to the hospital.
Phone: 785-364-9617
Hours: Monday- Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
If assistance is needed after hours call:
785-364-9625 and ask for the Home Health and Hospice on call nurse. h
Hospice
Hospice is a philosophy of care that maximizes the quality of life when the quantity of life cannot be extended.
Our Hospice embraces this philosophy by offering end-of-life care and support to you, your loved-one and family.
Our Hospice is honored to offer end-of-life care to you or a loved one and family in Jackson County and surrounding areas as the only local agency. Hospice is widely recognized as the best kind of care when a person’s illness cannot be cured or aggressively treated. Our hospice team cares for patients living at home or in local nursing homes and includes a team of expert physicians, registered nurses, social workers, chaplains, and volunteers ready to assist you and your family.
Advantages of Hospice Care
- Hospice treats the person, not the disease.
- Hospice focuses on the family and emphasizes the quality of life.
- Hospice care allows terminally ill patients and their families to experience the end of life together, in the comfort of the home or home-like setting.
- Hospice uses the combined knowledge and skills of an interdisciplinary team of professionals, including physicians, nurses, home care aides, social workers, spiritual care givers, counselors and volunteers.
- Hospice care is viewed as the most cost-effective way to treat the terminally ill now and in the approaching decades.
- Hospice is the preferred choice of health care delivery for the terminally ill and their families.
- Hospice brings expertise and experience in pain management and symptom control.
- Hospice provides care for social, emotional and spiritual needs of patients and families.
- Hospice provides bereavement support.
- The earlier hospice is involved, the more it can help make the patient’s final days, weeks and months as comfortable and satisfying as possible.
Myths about Hospice
Myth: Hospice is a place
Fact: Hospice is a philosophy and we will go where the patient is. The majority of hospice care is provided in the familiar comfort of the patient’s home.
Myth: “I have to stop all my medications while I am on hospice”
Fact: Hospice does not take away all of a patients medications. Hospice focuses on a relief based rather than a curative approach and the decision to stop taking medications is up to the patient.
Myth: “I won’t be able to use my regular doctor on hospice”
Fact: A patient’s personal physician can choose to be a part of the hospice care team. The hospice medical director works with the patient’s primary care provider to develop a plan of care. The patient is directly involved in this plan of care.
Myth: Hospice is only for the last days of life.
Fact: Hospice patients can receive care for 6 months or longer, depending on the course of their particular illness.
Myth: Being on hospice is giving up on life.
Fact: Hospice is about living in comfort and dignity. Patients choosing hospice sooner rather than later, have shown to have better symptom control and quality of life.
Myth: Hospice only focuses on the patient’s illness.
Fact: Every patient has an interdisciplinary team which includes a holistic approach that encompasses psychosocial, spiritual, bereavement and veteran support for the patients and families.
The Jackson County Friends of Hospice is the volunteer arm of our organization. These volunteers undergo extensive training and provide support as directed by the family.
Our Hospice Objectives Include:
• Educating the community about end-of life care concerns, advanced care planning, and pain management.
• Educating the community about the death and dying process and the services offered through the Hospice program.
• Aiding the terminally ill person and the family in the struggle to maintain independence and experience death with dignity.
• Maintaining the dying person in the home as an alternative to institutional care, or an appropriate setting as determined by the patient and family.
• Providing care to meet the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of the whole person.
• Supplementing and coordinating community resources and programs on behalf of the client and his family.
• Allowing the dying person a life as full and free of pain as possible, and a death with dignity supported by those who love and care for him.
• Supporting the family throughout the grief process after the death of their loved one.
Grief Coaching - at HCH Home Health
Grief is an incredibly profound human experience. It signifies the capacity to mend and transform during the grieving journey, ultimately embracing the inevitability of change. This transformative journey leads to the discovery of a rekindled sense of purpose and significance in life. It’s crucial to remember that every individual’s experience of grief is distinctly personal, and each encounter with loss or life transition is inherently unique.
Traci Smith, a Licensed Master Social Worker and Certified Grief Coach, possesses the expertise to guide and support individuals through this challenging process. For further details, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us via phone or by filling out the contact form at the bottom of this page.
For questions or to book an appointment, call Traci Smith, LMSW at 785-364-9617.
Jackson County Friends of Hospice Volunteers
Hospice volunteers are people who have been selected and trained to provide services to terminally ill persons and their families during one of the most stressful times of their lives. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact our office.
Jackson County Friends of Hospice is a member of:
~Kansas Hospice & Palliative Care Organization
~National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization
~Jackson County Chamber of Commerce
Jackson County Friends of Hospice has tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations and memorial contributions may qualify as tax deductions.
785-364-9617
For TDD-TTY call
The Kansas Relay Center
1-800-766-3777 or 711
Questions? We can help!
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