A team of physicians, nurses, social workers, home health aides, chaplains, counselors and specially trained volunteers provide caring services to the patient and their family to:
- Manage pain and symptoms of illness
- Provide availability of on-call nursing 24-hours a day 7 days a week
- Teach caregivers how to care and support their loved one
- Assist with personal care
- Assist in obtaining equipment, supplies and medication
- Support patient and family with emotional, spiritual and bereavement services
- Provide help in accessing needed community resources
- Offer the assistance of trained volunteers who provide respite opportunities for caregivers of patients and may provide other support such as assistance with errands, transportation and friendly visits.
- Providing ongoing family grief recovery bereavement and counseling support
Eligibility
Hospice services are available to patients of all ages based on the following criteria:
- The patient must live in our geographical service area.
- The patient must have a life expectancy of six months or less.
- The patient and family must be aware of the patient’s prognosis and no longer be seeking life-prolonging measures.
- There must be a responsible person available to give care in the home, or a person who plans to do so when care is needed.
- The attending physician must be in agreement with the hospice concept and willing to participate with the patient’s hospice care program.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Hospice Care work?
Typically, members of Avita’s Hospice team make regular visits to assess the patient and provide care or other services needed. A family member usually serves as primary caregiver and when appropriate, helps make decisions for the terminally ill individual. As the time of passing arrives or when crisis care is required, you are not alone as our hospice nurses will be on hand to bring calm, peace and comfort.
Spiritual, family and social services support are also available. Outside of regularly scheduled visits, Avita’s Hospice team is on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are by your side during, after and whenever you may need us. It is an honor and a privilege to serve you.
What is Hospice?
Hospice is a nationally recognized, comprehensive program of team-oriented compassionate care that is designed to help patients who are facing life-limiting illnesses. Hospice focuses on:
- Making patients as comfortable and free of pain as possible so they can make the most of the time that remains for them
- Enabling patients to live their remaining days with comfort and dignity at home or their permanent residence, surrounded by friends, family and the things they love
- Holistically treating the patient’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs
- Teaching and helping family members become an essential part of the process
- Delivering a quality of life that is as important as the length of life
The hospice program of caring and support has helped millions of patients and their families and many credit it with making the final days with loved ones warm and memorable. Tailored to an individual’s needs and wishes, Avita Home Health & Hospice provides expert medical care, pain and symptom management, and emotional, bereavement and spiritual support.
Why Hospice?
If possible, it’s better to spend the last days at home, alert and free of pain, among the people and things that are loved. Avita Home Health & Hospice hopes to increase the significance of terminally ill patient’s remaining days through the provision of an umbrella of services including physical, emotional, and spiritual support, medications for symptom management, as well as medical equipment and supplies necessary for care.