Hospice Care
Hospice care helps family members manage the practical details and emotional challenges of caring for a dying loved one.
What is Hospice Care?
Hospice care helps family members manage the practical details and emotional challenges of caring for a dying loved one. Talbot Hospice services are offered wherever you call home - in one’s own residence, in assisted living and nursing homes or at Hospice House. The goal is to provide comfort and dignity to our patients while focusing on improving one’s quality of life instead of on continuing with treatment to prolong one’s life. Talbot Hospice offers a comprehensive and holistic approach to the end-of-life.
What Hospice Provides
- 24/7 availability for assistance by a nurse
- Expert pain and symptom management by physicians and nursing staff
- Emotional and spiritual support for patients, families and friends by social workers and chaplains
- Regular visits in the patient's home and/or wherever they may call home such as skilled nursing or assisted living facilities
- Companionship and assistance from trained volunteers
- Therapies: speech, physical, occupational, music, massage and dietary counseling as needed
- Medications related to the hospice diagnosis
- Medical equipment and supplies related to the hospice diagnosis
- Bereavement support through counseling and support groups for families and friends after their loved one has died
- We care for patients regardless of their ability to pay
Hospice Wherever You Call Home
If a patient is living at home, Talbot Hospice can:
- Assist family caregivers in learning how to care for the day-to-day needs of the patient
- Provide home health aides to assist with personal care and light housekeeping
- Carefully monitor the patient’s condition so we can help before any crisis may arise
- Provide friendly volunteer visitors so caregivers can get some respite away from the home for a few hours
If the patient is in a skilled nursing or assisted living facility, Talbot Hospice can:
- Work collaboratively with facility staff to ensure pain and symptom management
- Provide emotional, spiritual and practical support to patient and family members
- Provide extra nursing, social work and chaplain visits to your loved one at the facility to enhance quality of life
Hospice Care FAQs
Hospice care honors the wishes of individuals living with a life-limiting illness when curative treatment is no longer the focus. Care is centered on comfort, with personalized plans that address pain and symptoms while easing stress and anxiety for both patients and their loved ones.
Hospice care is available to individuals of any age who are seeking comfort-focused care rather than curative treatment. Care is always a choice and is designed to support patients and families during serious illness.
-To qualify for hospice care, a hospice physician and the patient’s physician must certify that life expectancy is six months or less.
-Patients may remain in hospice care beyond six months if they continue to meet eligibility requirements through ongoing medical review.
-Hospice supports individuals living with cancer, congestive heart failure, advanced lung disease, end-stage renal disease, advanced dementia, and other life-limiting illnesses.
Hospice services are covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and most private insurance plans. Hospice care is provided regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.
Hospice care can be provided anywhere a patient considers home, including a private residence, nursing home, or assisted living community.
We also provide Hospice Care in our Eleanor A. Koons Hospice House located on our campus in Easton, MD.