Reprinted with permission from Wendy Edwards, Hospice
Volunteers of Pasadena
Hospice recognizes dying as
a normal process, whether or not it results from disease. Hospice
neither hastens nor postpones death. Hospice exists in the hope and belief
that, through appropriate care and the promotion of a caring, sensitive
community, patients and their families may be free to attain some degree
of mental and spiritual preparation for death that is comfortable to them.
(Standards of a Hospice Program of Care, National Hospice Organization,
February 1979.) The growing hospice movement has brought new hope and
meaning for terminally ill people and their families.
Hospice affirms life by providing support and
care for persons in the last phases of incurable disease so that they
might live as fully and comfortably as possible. Hospice care is dedicated
to supporting the dignity of the human experience. It is designed to help
patients live at home, stay as active as possible, and express and accept
their feelings. The Hospice program provides palliative care and therapeutic
relief of the symptoms and stressors which may diminish the quality of
life for terminally ill patients and their families.
Hospice treats the whole person by considering
all aspects of the lives of the patients and their families as valid areas
of therapeutic concern. Those involved in the process of dying have a
variety of physical, spiritual, emotional and social needs. The nature
of dying is so unique for each person that the goal of hospice care is
to be sensitive and responsible to the special requirements of each individual
and family.
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liked, you can e-mail a note to yourself as a reminder.