Hospice Support Services

Nurses play an essential role in the AseraCare Hospice team.  They are through and  compassionatel in caring for our hospice patients. Because pain control is often central to hospice care, our nurses will make every effort to relieve pain and make the patient as comfortable as possible. Our nurses have also been trained in the latest holistic care techniques for both patients and their families.Each AseraCare Hospice facility has a registered nurse on staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Social workers help AseraCare hospice patients and their families deal with symptoms, psychological stress, and ethical dilemmas such as those associated with withdrawing or withholding treatment. They often counsel families and patients to help them understand the emotions they may experience during this difficult time. Social workers may work with community agencies to assist the patient and family members. In addition, a social worker may facilitate communication between patient and family, attempting to ensure that everything essential is resolved between the patient, family members, and friends.

Spirituality is universal, but its expression is personal and unique to each individual. Some patients and their families desire the rituals and traditions of their religion, while others want to meet their spiritual end-of-life needs in their own individual way. AseraCare Hospice spiritual coordinators help patients and their families address their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life, in accordance with each person’s individual beliefs and preferences.

AseraCare Hospice understands patients and their families may want to focus on each other, not on details and paperwork. We offer personal care assistance to give families the freedom from worry about care and safety issues.

AseraCare Hospice has registered physical, occupational and speech therapists on staff to meet individual needs. These might include physical treatment to improve movement and restore daily living skills; speech therapy to regain speaking skills; and, occupational therapy to restore the ability to perform basic tasks. AseraCare Hospice believes that rehabilitative therapy for hospice patients can enhance their quality of life.

AseraCare Hospice provides nutrition counseling to assist patients with dietary health needs or concerns. Our licensed registered dieticians support patients who may be a nutritional risk because of their physical health status or diagnosis, medications or family status change. Dietary education is tailored to specific health conditions.

Bereavement counseling supports people with emotional and psychological stresses following the death of a loved one. AseraCare Hospice offers a broad range of transition services including outreach, counseling and referral services to family members.

Hospice bereavement counselors support families as they begin their first year without their loved one, helping them through holidays, anniversaries or other special days with calls, visitors or inspirational articles and poems.

Our bereavement counseling programs are designed to:

• Help individuals better understand grief
• Learn healthy coping skills
• Share feelings with others who have experienced or are experiencing loss