What is Hospice Care?

  • It begins when two physicians certify that the patient has less than six months to live if the disease follows its usual course.
  • IT is comfort care without curative intent; patient is no longer responding to curative treatment or has elected not to further pursue such treatments.
  • All expenses related to the terminal diagnosis are covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance.
  • It is delivered wherever the patient calls home.



What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care is a healthcare specialty that focuses on managing the pain, symptoms and stress of a serious illness for patients of any age and at any stage of a disease.

Typical palliative care solutions are:

  • Symptom management
  • Pain management
  • Help navigating treatment options
  • Advance care planning
  • Comfort measures that support quality of life and referrals to community resources


Palliative care solutions can be used side by side with other primary treatments, and they also can be an option for patients who are eligible for hospice but are not yet emotionally rady to stop curative treatments in favor of end-of-life care.


Palliative Care vs. Hospice Care

  • Both are comfort care.
  • The object of both is to reduce stress and offer complex symptom relief related to a serious illness.
  • Both address physical and psychosocial relief.
Palliative care is for those seeking curative treatment concurrently. Hospice care is for those with a prognosis of six months or less who are not seeking curative treatment or are no longer responding to it.



What Kind of Patients Choose Palliative Care?

The American Society of Clinical Oncology has identified the characteristics of a patient who should receive palliative care but not curative treatment; these characteristics are applicable to patients with other diseases, too.

  • The patient has limited ability to care for himself/herself.
  • The patient has received curative treatment and is no longer benefitting from it.
  • The patient does not qualify for an appropriate clinical trial.
  • There is no evidence that further treatment would be effective.
Hospice eligibility requires that two physicians certify that the patient has less than six months to live if the disease follows its usual course. Palliative care is begun at the discretion of the physician and patient at any time, at any stage of illness, terminal or not.

Talk to your family and your doctor about your goals of care and whether palliative care and/or hospice care might improve your quality of life.


Cost of Residential Care Homes

Personal care homes will vary in cost depending on where it is located. People are more interested in living in warm climates, and preferably by the beach. These will be the most expensive geographical locations to settle in. Personal care homes also depend on whether the room is private or semiprivate.

Every institution or facility is different though, and the best way to go about an accurate estimate is to contact different personal care homes in the region, city, or town that you wish to settle in. Here are some rough estimates though. Most personal care homes have at least six rooms, but some they can be more or less. The averages below are based off of a six room home.



Nursing Homes for People Struggling with Serious Dementia

In most cases, if not all, nursing homes aren’t ideal places for those who have serious dementia. In this case, serious means that most of the time, they don’t remember who you are and have a lot of difficulty with daily living tasks. Security at a nursing home can be an issue in such situations. For example, someone who has dementia may be able to wander off fairly easily and get lost in the wide world out there.

Another potential issue is that dementia care brings serious challenges, and nursing homes aren’t designed to address these. For instance, nursing homes may put on entertainment programs such as crafts, parties, chair aerobics and scenic bus tours. These activities aren’t developed specifically to engage a person with dementia.

Moreover, nursing homes can be large and impersonal spaces with shadows, confusing layouts, muted colors and designs (not all homes, of course!). In contrast, people who have dementia tend to do better in spaces with brighter colors and that have environments reminiscent of home. It also helps a great deal if the walking corridor is circular, as people with dementia tend to walk a lot. They get frustrated if they encounter a door or end of hallway that they cannot get through. On the other hand, constantly walking in a circle lends a sense of forward progress. There are much fewer opportunities to stop and get frustrated.