Sometimes a negative air surrounds the word hospice, people draw a connotation for the word that should not be there. Hospice starts after a formal referral has been made and a representative visits the patient in a 48-hour window of the referral. This is the start of holistic care that gives someone the best quality of life they can possibly have. Hospice services are there to serve a person physically and mentally to the best of their ability. Hospice care services are about giving you the best possible quality of life for as long as possible. All sorts of people are involved in this care, from doctors to volunteers and everyone looking to make every moment of someone's life the highest quality it can be.
Hospice care facilities are often referred to in the colloquial term 'comfort care'. In the strictest definition of the word, this phrase can be accurately applied. Hospice care does aim to make people as comfortable as possible, but that is just one of their many aims. Holistic care looks at every part of life and every way to make those parts good and strives to offer the best services in all areas of life.
A perfect example of this is physical versus mental health. Hospice often thought to take care of more physical aspects, making the pain as minimal as possible. But just become something else comes up doesn't mean a mental illness will go away. 15% of adults that are over 60 experience some sort of mental illness. This needs to be treated, even in the midst of other health concerns. Holistic care aims to put a focus on this, treating someone's mind as well as body so their quality of life does not decrease. Holistic care considers things such as spiritual help and social services that will best serve a person in every aspect, not just ease physical pain by making them a little less lucid.
Life is life, there is no other way around it. No matter what other factors involved, someone deserves to live every minute of their life to the fullest possible potential. This is what hospice services should look to do -- give someone a higher quality of life when it reaches its end.
