Essential Hospice

Hospice provides a coordinated program of palliative care to terminally ill patients, and supportive services to patients, their families and significant others, in both home and facility settings, through a physician-directed plan of care. Specialized services include medical, nursing, home health aide, social services, spiritual care, bereavement services, volunteer services, and other appropriate counseling services. The hospice philosophy of care provides support for persons in the last phases of incurable illness so that they may live as fully and comfortably as possible. Hospice care seeks to enable patients to lead an alert, pain-free life and to manage symptoms so that their last days may be spent at home or in a home-like setting.