1. What is hospice?
Hospice is a special form of care designed to improve the quality of a patient’s final days. Its 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 a patient and his or her family will face. Our trained professionals and volunteers work together with family members to offer comfort and dignity during the patient’s final days.

2. What specific assistance does hospice offer patients living at home?
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. Serenity provides patient 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, grief counseling. Additional home help is available, if needed.

3. Who should make the decision about entering hospice and when?
When aggressive efforts to treat a disease create more distress, pain and harm than good, it may be time to consider hospice care. Although hospice care requires a physician’s order, you or your loved one may suggest it at any time as part of your care options.

4. How is hospice care different from other types of home health care?
Rather than focusing on curative treatments, hospice care simply focuses on making a patient’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 more than the patient—we focus on the entire family. As part of our recovery and grief support, your care provider maintains contact with your family for at least a year after the patient’s death. Often the relationships go on for much longer.

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

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6. Who is eligible to receive hospice?
Any patient diagnosed with a terminal illness may be eligible. Serenity’s pain management and emotional support programs will help the patient to spend his or her remaining days in comfort, peace and dignity.

7. Who can refer a patient to a hospice program?
Anyone can refer a qualified patient to Serenity’s hospice program—even if he or she is not a member of the immediate family. In fact, we often receive referrals from a patient’s friends or neighbors. If you or someone you know is ready for hospice care, but has yet to receive a doctor’s order, please call us. We’ll contact both the patient and the patient’s physician to determine if hospice care is the right step.

8. What is Serenity’s hospice admission process?
After we receive a referral, one of our experienced staff members visits the patient and his or her family in their home. We offer a free evaluation, thoroughly explain our services, answer questions and provide the benefit of our years of experience in helping patients and their families make a decision about hospice care. We also consult with the patient’s doctor to ensure that hospice care is an appropriate choice. Finally, we will deliver a consent form to confirm that hospice care is the patient’s desired treatment. Once signed, hospice care can begin almost immediately, usually in four hours or less.

9. Can a hospice patient who shows signs of recovery be
returned to regular treatment?
Of course. If the patient’s condition improves or the disease moves into remission, the patient can be discharged and return to curative therapy and normal daily life. If the patient should need to return to hospice care again, Medicare and most private insurance providers will allow additional coverage.

10. Is there any special equipment or changes I have to make
in my home for hospice?
Our hospice staff will assess your needs and arrange for any necessary equipment (e.g. hospital bed, wheel chair, oxygen, etc.).

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11. How does hospice manage pain?
For most hospice patients, even a small amount of relief can seem like a miracle. Fortunately, Serenity’s services often bring immense relief and a sense of comfort to patients who suffer. 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 that can help patients become as mobile and self-sufficient as possible. Pain can also be managed with diet counseling. But 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 patient’s burden. Other qualified counselors, including clergy, are also available to assist both the patient and the patient’s family.

12. What is Serenity’s success rate in managing pain?
Very high. Serenity’s combination of medication, counseling, therapy, and Complementary/Alternative Medicine typically helps patients attain significant relief, comfort and peace of mind.

13. Does someone always need to be with the hospice patient?
In the early stages of care, constant monitoring is usually unnecessary. However, one of the most common fears a hospice patient experiences is the fear of dying alone, so we generally recommend someone be continuously present in later weeks.

14. How often will a Serenity care provider visit the patient?
Serenity is committed to providing the highest level of care to their patients. As part of meeting that goal, we do not limit the number of visits to our hospice patients. We will visit the patient as often as they need us to.

15. Will the same nurse or therapist visit regularly, or will
it be someone different every time?
Serenity assigns a core team of care providers to each hospice patient. While a different 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 the core care team.

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16. How long does it take to receive hospice care?
Hospice care is almost always started the same day of your phone call.

17. Where can I get more hospice information?
These are some organizations that can give you more information: National Association of Hospice & Palliative Care or Oregon Hospice Association

18. I’m concerned if I choose hospice services in the nursing home, the nursing home staff will feel they weren’t doing a good job.
Serenity works in close partnership with the nursing home staff. The nursing home staff provides ongoing expertise in geriatric and chronic illness care, while Serenity provides specialized pain and symptom management and emotional, spiritual and social support at the end of life.  Our nursing home partners appreciate the added expertise and visits made by Serenity nurses, social workers, home health aides, chaplains and volunteers. In addition, Serenity provides emotional support and assistance to the nursing home staff who often have long-term relationships with their residents.

19. I always thought that hospice meant giving up hope. Doesn’t it mean that there’s nothing more the doctors can do?
Physicians and patients turn to hospice when their active curative treatment is no longer effective. Hope then focuses on comfort, on living each day to the fullest, on spending time with family. Hospice supports these hopes. 

Hospice provides palliative treatment, to help patients 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 control.

Far from giving up hope, patients and families who have used Serenity 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.

20. Can a hospice patient continue with his or her own doctor?
Yes. The Serenity medical director is available for consultation with the patient's physician. Hospice nurses will work with the patient's doctor on all aspects of care.

21. What if people involved in the patient’s care aren’t actually family? 
Serenity supports the patient and whomever the patient wants to involve in their care. Serenity works with many different family caregiver situations, and with patients who have no family.

22. Is caring for the patient at home the only place hospice care is offered?
No. While most hospice care is provided to patients in their personal residence, many patients live in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. 

23. How do I pay for hospice or home health care?
Medicare, Medicaid, Veteran’s Administration, private insurance providers and many HMOs typically cover 100% of hospice. Private payments are also accepted. Call Serenity and our staff will be happy to help you determine if you are qualified for benefits.
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