November is National Hospice & Palliative Care Month
Updated: Nov 20, 2024
“National Hospice and Palliative Care Month” is observed every November to raise awareness about the critical role of hospice and palliative care in enhancing the quality of life for individuals facing serious illnesses. The 2024 theme is #CareHeroes, celebrating the dedication of caregivers and the courage of patients and their families. It is a very important month for those in the caregiving and medical profession seeking to educate and break down misconceptions surrounding end-of-life care.
Each year in November, crucial topics are highlighted such as the importance of comfort, pain relief, and improved quality of life for patients with serious conditions, regardless of age or illness stage. But who are these two medical care treatment options designed to support? Here are my best answers to help in our understanding:
A patient may need palliative care if they have a serious or chronic illness that significantly impacts their quality of life. Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life for patients and their families by addressing their physical, emotional, and practical challenges, and the treatment of the patient need not be limited to end-of-life care.
A patient typically needs hospice care if they have a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months or less, as determined by their doctor. Hospice care provides palliative care to patients with life-limiting illnesses, focusing on comfort and quality of life. Hospice care can be provided at home, in a hospice facility, or in a hospital.
For our son, Robert, palliative care services supported him for half of his eighteen years of life. Hospice care on the other hand was not afforded to him for several specific reasons that Chris and I discuss at length in the two podcasts listed below.
If we are to talk seriously about National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, we need to start with a few astonishing facts. In 2022, approximately 49.1% of those receiving Medicare in the United States received hospice care. This means nearly half of those who passed away while enrolled in Medicare received hospice services. That is an incredibly large number of people caring and being cared for!
My husband, physician Chris says:
As a health care provider, I’m encouraged with the utilization of hospice care for Medicare patients. However, we all know that severe illness and terminal diagnoses do not only impact our seniors but can occur at any age. There are so many benefits from early engagement of palliative or hospice care services for our patients and for their families. Medicine should be about supporting health, not just treating illness. That still holds true for individuals with serious illness – how do we support and promote the best quality of life for our loved ones and those we care for. Too often, families resist the wonderful aid these services provide, misunderstanding the true intention. Every ounce of help is needed to ensure that those we care for are supported to the fullest. Moreover, assistance in caregiving is what all of us who provide care need to enable us to live and care for ourselves and those we love in healthy relationships. Building a community and environment of respect, mutual support, respite, and quality of life is the whole intent of both palliative and hospice care. I encourage you to engage these wonderful professionals whenever their services are available.
Let’s recognize the invaluable contributions of palliative care and hospice providers and encourage them whenever we have the opportunity. We can all educate ourselves and observe this significant month each year.
As I mentioned above, Chris and I were interviewed in podcasts about the very real end of life care decisions we had to make for Robert. Take some time to listen as we may all face these important decisions concerning care for our loved ones.
How will I know? The “Impossible Choice” - Palliative or Hospice Care with Eric Jorgensen. ABC’s of Disability Planning Podcast
Valuable Lessons Learned From a Mom Who Lost a Child. The Heart of Hospice Podcast.
Listening Library: Always With Me (Song for Anxiety) (iAmSon)
Always With Me (Song for Anxiety)
I can make through the day
When you're with me on the way
In my heart and mind you'll stay
I can make it through the night
When I'm clinging to your light
You will make the darkness bright
For you are always, always with me
For you are always, always with me
In the calm and in the storm
When it seems I'm all alone
It's your hand I find to hold
In each hour of unrest
When it seems I've nothing left
You speak peace in every breath
For you are always, always with me
For you are always, always with me
In the morning, in the evening
When I'm waking, when I'm sleeping
When I'm arriving, when I'm leaving
You will have me in your keeping
Even from my mother’s womb
Never hidden from your view
I was always known to you
When I fade away in death
You will catch my final breath
You will take me to my rest
For you are always, always with me
For you are always, always with me
And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share
As we tarry there
None other has ever known
Songwriters: Paul Zach / Orlando Palmer / Jessica Fox / Kate Bluett
Always With Me (Song for Anxiety) lyrics © Integrity's Alleluia! Music, Paul Zach Publishing,
Kate Bluett Music
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