Hail Guest.  Not only the door, but the heart of the owner is open to you.
Inscribed over the threshold of an ancient hospice in Assisi

Today, too many Americans die alone, and in discomfort.  Most people do not want to die by themselves in sterile, impersonal surroundings, hooked up to machines and cut off from family and friends.  Instead they prefer to spend their days at home … alert and free of pain … among the people they love.  Hospice care makes this possible.

Hospice, from the Latin hospitium, means hospitality.  Beginning in Europe in the 12th century, hospices provided lodging and care for weary pilgrims and the dying.  Today, hospice is considered the model for quality, compassionate, end-of-life care.  Hospice care is provided by an interdisciplinary team skilled in medical care, pain and symptom management, and emotional and spiritual counseling.  Care is offered to the patient, their loved ones and caregivers.

At Casa de la Luz Hospice, we affirm life and believe that death, like birth, is a natural and sacred time of transition.  Hospice seeks neither to hasten nor postpone the end of life, but to assist persons to live fully until that time with individuality, dignity and maximum quality of life.

How Does Hospice Care Work?

A person is eligible for hospice care when their physician and the hospice medical director agree that given the nature and progression of their illness, they may have a life expectancy of six months or less.  An all-inclusive hospice care benefit is available to eligible persons through the Medicare program (please see Medicare Benefits).  Many insurance companies also contract with hospice programs.  Hospice services are provided regardless of age, gender, diagnosis, race or religion.

The focus of hospice care is comfort, not cure, and in most cases care is provided in the patient's home.  Care is also provided in free-standing hospice facilities, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities and assisted living homes.   In order to provide professional and enduring hospice care in the home setting, a full-time primary caregiver must be available.  Short-term inpatient care is provided should pain or symptoms become too difficult to manage at home, or should the caregiver need respite.  In other settings, the hospice team adds essential, professional end-of-life expertise and services, making regular visits to assess patients' needs and to provide care.  Hospice staff are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The hospice team develops a plan of care focused on the patient's goals, their well-being and needs for pain management and symptom control (please see The "Casa" Team).   Among its major responsibilities, the hospice team:

• coordinates care under the direction of the hospice medical director and the attending physician;
• manages the patient's pain and/or symptoms;
• provides nursing and personal care;
• coaches family and caregivers in the care of the patient;
• assists the patient and their loved ones with the emotional, spiritual and psychosocial aspects of living with dying.
• provides needed medications, medical equipment and supplies;
• makes short-term inpatient care available should pain or symptoms become too difficult to manage at home, or when a caregiver needs respite;
• delivers special services like speech and physical therapy when appropriate;
• provides bereavement care and counseling to surviving family members and friends.