Live an Epic Life

What is Hospice?

Hospice is not giving up, it is recognizing that there is quality to the limited time that someone with progressive disease has to spend with family and friends. Hospice provides a care team approach that involves a doctor, nurses, social workers, chaplain, home health aides, volunteers, family/caregiver, and your doctor. Hospice care is centered around the patient’s care plan which has been developed specifically for the patient by them and their team. Nobody knows how you wish to live before they die than the person experiencing it. Hospice gives a patient the choice to live their Epic Life.

Epic Care for Your Loved Ones

Considering Hospice?

Hospice care should be part of a patient and their family’s discussion when it gets to the point where their disease is no longer treatable or controllable and when the patient’s team has run out of further treatment options. A general rule of thumb is when a person has an expected six months or less to live due to an incurable disease, they should consider hospice care.

For cases outside of a terminal illness, hospice should be considered for a loved one when:

• They have had an increasing number of visits to the hospital
• They have had frequent falls
• They have had a decrease in appetite and progressive, unintentional weight loss
• Their cognitive health seems to be deteriorating and/or shows signs of mental confusion
• They have been socially withdrawn
• Their ability to complete daily functions such as eating, walking, or using the bathroom is waning
• They have had an increase in infections or experience recurrent infections
• They have had unmanageable pain

It is important to remember that at any time, a patient or their family can decide to stop hospice and return to curative care. However, many people at the final stages of their life prefer to improve the quality of their life and enjoy the time they have left rather than go through more (and often unpleasant) treatment in an attempt to cure their illness. That is where Epic Care Health comes in. We will guide you step-by-step through this difficult process and ensure the comfortable and enjoyable care of your loved one.