More hospice care facilities are realizing that patient care encompasses much more than just physical wellbeing. Holistic care is centered on the concept of tending to a patient's emotional and psychological needs, just as much as their physical ones. If you're interested in the holistic care hospice facilities can offer you or a loved one, read on to know what to expect.
Light touch and soothing creams
While this type of holistic hospice care has a physical element, the primary benefits come from the therapeutic properties light touch can offer. Certain creams contain essential oils with healing and soothing properties. Some of these creams can help with symptoms such as nausea, insomnia, anxiety, respiratory issues, constipation, and depression.
Massaging patients with these creams can be a very rewarding form of therapy for patients. A gentle touch can help a patient feel comforted both physically and emotionally. When you're considering the holistic care hospice facilities can offer, inquire as to whether or not this type of therapy would be available for your loved one.
Emotional counseling and support
As mentioned earlier, emotional counseling is a key component of holistic care for the patients and their families. Having a loved one in hospice care means that you will need to make many tough decisions. When you have a reliable source of counseling and support, those decisions become more bearable.
This counseling not only involves providing support for those decisions, but it also provides assistance in coordinating end-of-life care. Hospice care staff can offer information and referrals for additional services or agencies, coordinate respite care with other family members, and explain all the hospice services your loved one may need. Hospice staff members are on call seven days a week, 24 hours a day to tend to any of these needs and much more.
Pet therapy
You've likely seen the heartwarming videos of emotional support animals visiting people in hospice care. Many patients leave animals behind when they enter hospice care and miss their furry companions. When you or a loved one enters hospice care, consider asking if you can bring in their dog or cat for a visit or research if the facility has a pet therapy program.
Research surrounding pet therapy has shown that hospice patients have lower heart and respiratory rates and lower blood pressure after petting an animal. Patients also sleep better after a visit with a four-legged friend, which can significantly help their overall health and wellness.
By integrating holistic care hospice facilities offer into the care plan of your loved one, you can help them have a more pleasant experience. When someone is reaching the end of their life, there is little that is more comforting than this kind of care.
