Calling a hospice service agency to take care of your loved one can be one of the most personal (and the most difficult) decisions you ever have as a family. Beta Hospice Care understands that finding a hospice agency usually doesn’t follow an easy and streamlined process. Knowing this, we have developed this guide to help walk the families through on how to select a hospice agency in Los Angeles. When choosing an agency, you’re not only deciding how your loved one will spend the rest of his life, but also make sure that the last days are spent in peace and to make it as enjoyable as possible.
Understanding Hospice Care
For a patient who has a terminal illness, comfort care is available through a specific aspect of palliative care called hospice care. Most of the time, hospice care takes place inside patients’ homes. This is so that patients and their families can receive comfort care where they know it as home. A hospice nurse and doctor would provide these patients with total care and even give them medications to help prevent their pain and suffering. It’s important for dementia patients to be around their home so that they can feel safe and at peace during their final stages of life. Hospice would even provide mental health services, herapies and beyond. Hospice also supports the entire family unit. Hospice care can take weeks to months. The first step in deciding is identifying the different types of care that hospice provides as well as what hospice care provides different than curative care. You should also familiarize yourself with The Levels of Hospice Care. If you want to learn more, click here.
Assessing Your Needs and Preferences
Because every patient and family will have different needs, expectations and wishes, it becomes crucial that you consider what you, as a family member (not to mention what the rest of your family) might believe is most important.
Location of Care. The next step is whether the patient prefers to be cared at their home or in a Hospice House (skilled Nurse facility) or Nursing Home? The Location of care might be the deciding factor for the Hospice Agency that you select. We at Beta Palliative and Hospice care feel majority of the patients feel comfortable in their homes or familiar settings if at all possible.
Evaluate what services your loved one needs and determine if your agency offers them. Do they need help with pain management or symptom control, and will the hospice evaluate the medications and non-medication methods as well as the emotional/mental or spiritual issues? Does the loved one need medical care, nursing care, spiritual care, personal care or social services or other types of services? Make certain your agency offers your loved one what they need. Make sure there is adequate grief support for your loved one and your family. What levels of support to help with the activities of daily living do they need?
Cultural and religious considerations: consider your loved one’s cultural, religious, or other preferences that are important to you in this moment. Hospice agencies that respect and accommodate these preferences exist, and this might help you find more personalized and meaningful care.
Researching Potential Hospice Agencies in Los Angeles and Ventura, California
Once you have a clear understanding of your needs, begin researching potential hospice agencies:
Experience and Expertise: Select an agency with a long history and track record of providing high-quality care to patients and families at the end of life. A hospice agency with more experience and a solid reputation is very likely to provide a better quality of care and their end-of-life care protocols are more likely to be well tested.
Reputation and comments: Look at the agency’s reputation in the community. Read reviews from patients and families who have used the agency. Positive comments across many cases are a good indication that their care is both effective and humane.
Evaluating the Quality of Care
Quality of care is paramount when choosing a hospice agency:
Interdisciplinary Team: The better a hospice agency, the more interdisciplinary professionals will be involved (eg, medical doctors, nurses, social workers, volunteers, chaplains), with each one coordinating care.
Personalized Care Plan: The agency should facilitate and review a bespoke Care Plan for each individual, based on their holistic needs and in consultation with the patient and the family.
Not every case is handled equal.
24/7 Availability: Make sure that the hospice has 24/7 access to trained staff available to be called when symptoms flare up or to help with more routine care needs. The availability of this 24/7 care can provide immense peace of mind, particularly when it comes to relieving symptoms and sorting out medical issues.
Communication and Support: The institutional lines of communication need to be open, and family members need to be apprised about actual spending, prognosis and who is providing what care or assistance. The agency should be able to offer clear, sensitive communication skills and emotional support to both the patient and her family.
Making the Decision on Hospice Care in Los Angeles
When you have done your research and narrowed your choices, set up appointments or consultations with the hospice agencies that rose to the top of your wish list. When you meet the staff, and ask questions, you’ll be on your way to an informed choice.
Yes, choosing an appropriate hospice agency requires some thought, research and a weighing of various factors. With such attention to detail, you can be confident that you are securing the most appropriate hospice care for your loved one. The kind of end-of-life care that Beta Hospice Care offers ‐ compassionate, personalized, and high quality ‐ will ensure that your loved one is supported in the best way possible at this important time in their life journey.