Expert: Ajit V. Hansalia, MD

Medical Director, VITAS Healthcare

Where do people go for hospice, and why do we need end-of-life care?

Hospice is not a place. It is a set of all-encompassing services we provide to people in the place they call home. Hospice is guided by a philosophy of providing comfort and support to patients and their families, so they can be at peace in their final days.

There are two momentous days in everyone’s life – when they are born into this world and when they leave it. Births are witnessed and celebrated by family and friends. Death should be a beautiful, peaceful celebration of life, too.

Hospice is a continuation of healthcare and incorporates treatments that support quality of life, including those that help manage the underlying medical conditions, such as medications for heart failure or COPD. The focus shifts to identifying what is most important for patients and families by incorporating individually tailored care plans that facilitate compassionate end-of-life care.

End-of-life care is necessary to address the symptoms patients continue to experience after curative therapies are exhausted. In the final weeks and months of their decline, people can experience pain, nausea, anxiety, and many other discomforts. Care is needed to ameliorate the symptoms and help preserve the person’s dignity through the end.

Hospice provides services to help relieve suffering in every form. End-of-life care includes medical care to manage symptoms, emotional support that honors unique life experiences, spiritual guidance to calm existential concerns, and education about the dying process for the patient and family. Hospice care also helps people face practical issues like how to get groceries, pay bills, apply for benefits, and make final arrangements.

Recognizing that the grieving process begins before death, hospice provides bereavement support for the family, extending more than a year after death, to ensure they are managing their grief and moving forward.

Learn more about the Medicare Hospice Benefit and hospice eligibility at VITAS.com.