My mother is now living with me and her doctor and oncologist recommended I go with hospice. I have taken this week off work but need to go back at least part time. I humana help with home care as I know I am going to self pay for some but how can I get her the in home help she needs from humana? I want her to stay at home that has always been her wish. I feel now that I have allowed hospice to come I may have given up any other help I could get.
Thanks ,
susie
2 Answers
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I am sorry, this is a difficult phase to take on. I can only share my experience, it was with Vista.
1. Hospice is for people who have up to 6 month life expectancy, and regardless of the illness, doctors can rarely tell you if it is 2 weeks or 3 months or more, so you have to prepare for the inaccuracy of the timeline.
2. There are 2 types of Hospice - facility and at-home.
3. If you need to return to work and there is no other relative at home, facility is your better option.
4. At home hospice (my situation) had requirements and limits. They provided 24x7 care but only until they stabilized the patient and once death was imminent. Outside of this time, they have a nurse visit every day for a short period of time to assess and a doctor as needed, but they are not there for "custodial" care. Feeding, changing, etc. is considered custodial care. When the hospice nurses were present, they were typically willing to do more that their job description, but relying on that would be precarious, therefore capable caregiver must be present at all times. In my case I had to hire an agency because my mother was not physically capable of caring for dad at that stage and I had to work (note a 24X7 agency gets VERY expensive). In addition to the caregiver Hospice required a family member be present, my mom met that requirement.
If, in the future I have to chose Hospice services for anyone else, I will get these services in a facility, unless I am fully retired, or can take leave and am willing to engage in a death vigil that is 24x7. This is something I would only do for someone I love very much. I do not want to sound mean by calling this a vigil - I had a few precious moments during this time with dad, but it was heart breaking.
Mercifully, my experience ended after a few weeks, it did not drag on for months.
My best wishes to you, I hope you find all the support you need and please do not beat yourself up if you decide a facility would be more manageable.
I'm sorry to hear that your mother needs hospice care.
I'm not sure that I'm following you. Have you read up on what all hospice does? You will need to contact Humana directly and see what help you can get them to pay for. Is there a web site that you can go to see what all her benefits are? I assume she's on medicare. You can go to their web site and see what benefits she might receive from them.
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