Hospice does not seek to lengthen life nor hasten death, but focuses on the quality of life. Hospice is a benefit program of health care and services designated to meet the special needs of patients and their loved ones, when the patient is diagnosed with a disease for which they elect comfort and palliative care.

• Hospice staff and volunteers offer a specialized knowledge of medical care, including pain management.
• The goal of hospice care is to improve the quality of a patient’s last days by offering comfort, compassion, and dignity.
• Hospice care is provided by a team-oriented group of specially trained professionals, volunteers and family members.
• Hospice addresses all symptoms of a disease, with a special emphasis on controlling a patient’s pain and discomfort.
• Hospice deals with the emotional, social and spiritual impact of the disease on the patient and the patient’s family and friends.
• Hospice offers a variety of bereavement and counseling services to families before and after a patient’s death.

Help is only a phone call away. The attending doctor, patient, family members, friends, clergy, social workers, hospital discharge planner, or any person concerned with a patients’ well being, can make a referral. We are here to assist you from the beginning process clear through to the end.

Palliative care is a specialized type of medical care that focuses more broadly on improving life and providing comfort to people of all ages with serious, chronic, and life-threatening illnesses. Palliative care can be accepted during any stage of a serious illness and can be provided in conjunction with curative treatment.

For example, palliative care can begin once a person is diagnosed with a serious illness, yet at the same time does not signal that the individual has given up hope for recovery. Some patients recover and move out of palliative care, while others with chronic diseases, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, may move in and out of palliative care as the need arises. If cure of a life-threatening disease proves elusive, palliative care can segue into hospice care.

Both Maxcare’s palliative and hospice care are holistic. For patients, this means attending to the challenges that illness poses in every aspect of life. It also means that care extends to family members and caregivers.

The goal of Maxcare’s hospice treatment is to keep you comfortable and improve your quality of life while you are dying. This philosophy differs from usual medical treatment in that the focus is on comfort and quality of life versus the curing of the disease. Hospice services are not intended to speed up the dying process, however, focus on relieving pain and other negative symptoms.

Maxcare believes that when it comes to quality of life, each patient has his or her own vision. Care is patient-centered in that the patient dictates what is important to them and where their major priorities are. Based on what is discussed, Maxcare then develops a care plan and strategy that meets the patient’s goals and values. For example, one’s goal or value may be to live as long as possible, no matter the quality. Maxcare understands the importance of patient choice and self-determination and will do everything in our power to ensure one’s stated goals are respected and adhered to.