Hospice is a special form of care designed to improve the quality of the final days for you or your loved one and the entire family. It’s palliative not curative so the primary focus is to ease the symptoms of illness, with a special emphasis on pain management. It also addresses the social, emotional and spiritual issues that you, your loved one and your family will face. Our trained professionals and volunteers work together with family members to offer comfort and dignity during the final days.

With home hospice care you or your loved one will be cared for by a team of physicians, nurses, social workers, counselors, hospice certified nursing assistants, clergy, therapists and volunteers at home. Serenity Hospice provides medications related to the terminal condition (including pain medication), supplies, equipment, personal care and hospital services. We also offer relief therapies such as massage, music, reading and grief counseling. Additional home help is available as needed.

When aggressive efforts to treat a life-limiting illness or disease create more distress, pain and harm than good, it may be time to consider hospice care. Although the hospice referral process requires a physician’s order, you or your loved one may suggest it at any time as part of your care options.

Rather than focusing on curative treatments, hospice care simply focuses on pain management and making one’s final days comfortable. Physicians, nurses, therapists, social workers, spiritual counselors, home aides and volunteers all work as a coordinated support team.

At Serenity, we also focus on the entire family. As part of our recovery and grief support, your Serenity Hospice care provider maintains contact with your family for at least a year after death. Often the relationship continues for much longer.

Depending on your needs or the needs of your loved one, hospice care may be provided in almost any setting, including the home, a friend or relative’s home, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living centers or senior housing. In most cases, patients prefer to receive hospice care in the comfort and security of their own homes.

Anyone diagnosed with a life-limiting illness may be eligible. Serenity Hospice’s pain management and emotional support programs will help you or your loved one experience remaining days of comfort, peace and dignity.

Anyone can make a referral to our hospice care program—even if he or she is not a member of the immediate family. In fact, we often receive referrals from friends or neighbors. If you feel that you or someone you know might be ready for hospice care, but has yet to receive a doctor’s order, please call us to determine if hospice care is the right step and to begin the hospice referral process if appropriate.

After we receive a referral, a registered nurse and social worker will visit you or your loved one and family in the home. We provide an evaluation, thoroughly explain our services, answer questions and provide the benefit of years of experience helping patients and families make a decision about hospice care. We also consult with the treating doctor to ensure that hospice care is an appropriate choice. Finally, we deliver a consent form to confirm that hospice care is the desired treatment. Once signed, hospice care can begin almost immediately, usually in four hours or less.

Of course. If your condition, or the condition of your loved one, improves or the disease moves into remission, you can be discharged and return to curative therapy and normal daily life. If there is a need to return to hospice care again, Medicare and most private insurance providers will allow additional coverage.

Our hospice staff will assess your needs and arrange for any necessary equipment (e.g. hospital bed, wheel chair, oxygen, etc.)—usually at no cost to you once you have decided on home hospice care.

For most hospice patients, even a small amount of relief can feel miraculous. Fortunately, Serenity Hospice’s pain management services often bring immense relief and a sense of comfort to those who are suffering. Our specially trained nurses will provide you or your loved one with the latest treatments and medications for pain and symptom relief. In addition, Serenity provides access to physical and occupational therapists to help increase mobility and self-sufficiency when possible. Pain can also be managed with diet counseling. However, emotional and spiritual pain can be just as agonizing as physical pain. Consequently, Serenity offers music, aroma, Reki, reflexology and massage therapy to help ease the burden. Other qualified counselors—including clergy—are also available to assist the entire family.

We are very successful in effectively managing pain for those in our care. Our combination of medication, counseling and therapy—as well as complementary and alternative medicine—typically helps our patients attain significant relief, comfort and peace of mind.

In the early stages of hospice care, constant monitoring is usually unnecessary. However, one of the most common fears faced by those nearing the end of life is the fear of dying alone, so we generally recommend someone be continuously present in later weeks.

We are committed to providing the highest level of care to you or your loved one. As part of meeting that goal, we do not limit the number of visits. We will visit as often as you or your loved one need us. Our low nurse-to-patient ratio (typically each Serenity Hospice nurse cares for only eight patients) allows us to visit more often than other hospices.

To ensure consistency of care and facilitate strong relationships, we assign a core team of care providers to each of our patients. While a different Serenity Hospice aid might come out based on the time of the visit (e.g. late at night or on weekends) they will always be a member of your core care team.

Hospice care is almost always started the same day of your phone call. We also provide those in need an urgent admission option. With this, a registered nurse, social worker and any other member of the team can be at your home within two hours of receiving a physician’s order.

You can contact the following organizations for more information:
National Association of Hospice & Palliative Care
Oregon Hospice Association
Hospice Foundation of America
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine

We work in close partnership with the nursing home staff. The nursing home staff provides ongoing expertise in geriatric and chronic illness care, while we provide specialized hospice pain and symptom management as well as emotional, spiritual and social support at the end of life. Our nursing home partners appreciate the added expertise and visits made by our nurses, social workers, hospice aides, chaplains and volunteers. In addition, Serenity Hospice provides emotional support and assistance to the nursing home staff that often have long-term relationships with their residents.

Physicians and patients turn to hospice care when active curative treatment is no longer effective. Hope then focuses on comfort, on living each day to the fullest and on spending time with family. Serenity Hospice supports these hopes.

Hospice provides palliative treatment and expertise in managing physical symptoms to help you or your loved one remain as comfortable and functional as possible, ensuring the best possible quality of life. Hospice care focuses on comfort, not cure, with an emphasis on pain and symptom management.

Far from giving up hope, patients and families who have used Serenity Hospice’s services tell us that hospice actually restores hope and enables patients and their families to achieve their goals and wishes in the time they have remaining.

Yes. Our medical director is available for consultation with the patient's physician. Serenity Hospice nurses will work with your doctor on all aspects of care.

We support you, your family and whomever else you wish to involve. Serenity works with many different family caregiver situations, and with those who have no family.

No. While most hospice care is provided in a personal residence, we will care for you or your loved one in a nursing homes or assisted living facility.

You are probably wondering, “Is hospice covered by insurance?” Almost always, yes. Medicare, Medicaid, Veteran’s Administration, private insurance providers and many HMOs typically cover 100% of hospice care. Private payments are also accepted. Call Serenity Hospice and our experienced staff will help you determine if you or your loved one qualifies for benefits.