What kind of health is your spouse in? If she is starting to fail, there's nothing wrong with asking hospice for an evaluation. It doesn't mean she's going to pass very soon but that the care shifts from trying to cure to trying to keep her comfortable and stop doing things that are not going to help anyways. I think it's a wonderful program to respectfully let someone's life take the path it is on instead of trying everything under the sun regardless of if it can possibly improve the quality of the person's life.
For me, the decision for my mother was when I decided the quality of her life became more important than the quantity. I was done with sending her to the hospital, getting no good result, and seeing her suffer increasing distress because hospitals and dementia don't go together well.
She was on hospice care in her memory care facility for nearly eight months, and her medical needs were seen to there, not in a hospital. She received far better care than in a hospital, too.
In my opinion Hospice should be considered as soon as someone would medically qualify. Far to often the patient and the family are referred to Hospice at the last possible moment and neither the family nor the patient gets to experience all that Hospice can offer. With Hospice YOU will get the supplies you need and the support you need. You will get the equipment that you need to safely care for your spouse at home. You will get all the supplies you need. A Nurse will come at least 1 time a week, a CNA will come at least 2 times a week to help bathe, dress, change bedding if needed and order supplies. You will get medications delivered. You will have a Social Worker that will come, a Chaplain is a part of the team you can choose to have them visit or not. there are other "therapies" that may be offered such as Music or Art. YOU can ask for a Volunteer that can come and sit with your spouse so you can get out and get things done. This can be scheduled as a weekly visit or as needed. All it takes is a phone call. As with any other medical service if you are not happy or you change your mind you can always discontinue for now and call back later if you wish.
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Best of luck.
She was on hospice care in her memory care facility for nearly eight months, and her medical needs were seen to there, not in a hospital. She received far better care than in a hospital, too.
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Far to often the patient and the family are referred to Hospice at the last possible moment and neither the family nor the patient gets to experience all that Hospice can offer.
With Hospice YOU will get the supplies you need and the support you need. You will get the equipment that you need to safely care for your spouse at home. You will get all the supplies you need. A Nurse will come at least 1 time a week, a CNA will come at least 2 times a week to help bathe, dress, change bedding if needed and order supplies. You will get medications delivered. You will have a Social Worker that will come, a Chaplain is a part of the team you can choose to have them visit or not. there are other "therapies" that may be offered such as Music or Art. YOU can ask for a Volunteer that can come and sit with your spouse so you can get out and get things done. This can be scheduled as a weekly visit or as needed.
All it takes is a phone call.
As with any other medical service if you are not happy or you change your mind you can always discontinue for now and call back later if you wish.