An appreciation of hospice and home care.
November is National Home Care and Hospice Month. Since 1978, this month reminds us of the hard work by healthcare professionals, families, and caregivers to provide comfort and compassion to individuals with disabilities and serious illness.
On a personal level, my grandmother entered hospice care, and my grandfather received home care toward the end of his life. My experiences of visiting them through these healthcare systems established a personal awareness and appreciation of how important they are to both the individual receiving the care, and the family’s desire for dignified treatment of their loved one.
Hospice and its origins.
While the idea of providing end-of-life care has been around for centuries, the modern-day perception of hospice care was introduced in 1967 by Dame Cicely Saunders. Based on her experience of falling in love with and caring for a dying Polish man, she opened St. Christopher’s hospice center in Europe. From here, her philosophy that every human has a right to a “sense of fulfillment and a readiness to let go,” helped spread the idea of hospice across the world.
Hospice care may be introduced to an individual when medical treatments become ineffective in prolonging their health. As such, the emphasis goes from care based on traditional medicines to becoming based on emotional care, with the intent to maximize an individual’s comfort and well-being. Hospice care is typically offered when an illness is considered terminal, and an outlook of an individual’s health does not extend past six months.
What is palliative care?
The term “palliative care” was created in 1974 by Montreal-based surgical oncologist Dr. Balfour Mount as he began to use the methods of Dame Cicely Saunders’ hospice care in academic teaching hospitals. His approach was based on providing as much emotional and mental care as physical care.
One way to discern palliative care’s difference from hospice is to look at the root of the former. Pallium is Latin for “cloak,” like the type of clothing. Palliative care, like a cloak, provides a layer of external emotional and mental support and comfort with standard medical treatments to individuals of any age with a life-threatening condition, like cancer or Alzheimer’s disease, to improve overall quality of life.
The wide range of home care.
Home healthcare is an umbrella term for medical aid provided at an individual’s residence. This type of care is directed toward a range of conditions, from chronic illness to bodily injury, and is provided by professional caregivers. The approach of receiving aid at home can provide comfort and peace of mind for the impacted individual and their family, and reduces overall healthcare costs.
Hospice and palliative care can also be performed at home and at designated centers that provide these services. The universal characteristic among all these types of care is the individual is receiving comfort and care at an especially difficult time for them and their family. As such, it’s important to recognize the importance of hospice, palliative, and home healthcare not just in November, but year-round.
The constantly evolving nature of scientific and medical research is always working toward the treatment of serious diseases. For some individuals, researching and participating in a clinical research study through clinicaltrials.gov may be an option to explore.
