Hospice
Focusing on the Patient’s Quality of Life
Care and support for individuals and their families, when a cure is no longer likely, with focus on the patient’s quality of life, providing symptom and pain management in the comfort of their preferred home setting.
Hospice Support Team
- Physician Services
- Nursing Care
- Medical Social Work Services
- Nurse Aide Assistance
- Chaplain
- Volunteers
- Spiritual Counseling
- Bereavement Support
- Dietary Counseling
- Medications
- Medical Equipment/Supplies
When is a Patient Eligible for Hospice Care?
When he/she chooses not to pursue aggressive curative treatment or has exhausted all methods in the curative process.
When the hospice nurse meets with the patient and provides a clinical assessment.
When the patient’s doctor and hospice agency’s Medical Director determine their eligibility based on a prognosis of six months or less if the patient’s disease runs its normal course.
When the patient or his/her personal representative elects the hospice benefit.
Contact us to learn more about our hospice program.
What is Hospice?
What is the Cost?
- Patient is eligible for the Medicare Part A hospice benefit
- Patient’s doctor and hospice agency’s Medical Director determine that the patient is eligible
- Patient or patient representative chooses to elect the Medicare Hospice Benefit
Elara Caring accepts Medicare, Medicaid and most commercial insurances that have a hospice benefit.
Hospice Programs
Diagnosis-centric action plans promote patient and caregiver engagement in a personalized approach to target the specific care needs of a patient based on their diagnosis. Specific zones are customized for each diagnosis so that patients and caregivers know when and how to take action.
Highlights:
- 24/7/365 “Call Us First” availability
- Evidence-based patient engagement
- Action Plans are one page (double-sided) disease-specific tools
- 3 color-coded “zones” assist patient in easily identifying health changes so that intervention can occur before a crisis
- Start of Care clinicians initiate Action Plan at the very first visit
The Advanced Heart Failure Program is a CHF management partnership designed to equip hospice patients to successfully manage their unique cardiac diagnosis needs.
Benefits include:
- Same day start of care
- 24/7/365 availability
- Reduced hospitalizations
- Superior quality patient and caregiver experience
- Custom care plan alignment
- Supplemental O2
- Modified diuretic therapy
- Patient-specific DME/HME
- Visit frequency changes PRN
The Advanced Pulmonary Disease Program is a COPD management partnership designed to equip hospice patients to successfully manage their unique pulmonary diagnosis needs.
Benefits include:
- Same day start of care
- 24/7/365 availability
- Reduced hospitalizations
- Superior patient and caregiver experience
- Custom care plan alignment
- High flow nasal cannula
- CPAP/BiPAP
- Pleural drains management
- Tracheostomy care
- Patient-specific DME/HME
- Visit frequency changes PRN
A program where hospice volunteers offer various additional services to assist patients and their families, such as grocery pick-up and delivery, dog walking, friendly weekly calls and more. Services differ by state and interested families can reach out to their local Volunteer Coordinator for more information.
By Your SideSM is a specialized service available to our hospice patients and their families that is responsive to the changing care needs of a patient showing signs of decline. Through a developed hospice team model, specific signs and symptoms of patient decline will alert the clinical team members to increase care. We work to provide increased presence at the bedside when declines are identified – a time when you need us most.
By Your Side includes:
- Pain and symptom management
- A calming presence
- Talking and listening
- Reading of an inspirational text or scripture at the patient’s request
- Playing music
- Holding the patient’s hand
- Advocacy
- End-of-life education
- Comforting the patient and family through each personal grief journey
The Call Us First initiative is vital to eliminating emergency room visits and rehospitalizations. Elara Caring reinforces the Call Us First standard at every home visit and phone call with patients and caregivers.
Why Call Us First?
- Available 24/7/365
- Call Us First is an integral part of our patient care culture
- Eliminates the need for emergency room visits or hospitalizations
- Improves patient comfort by managing symptoms in the home
- Integral part of every diagnosis-centric action plan for daily patient engagement, symptom awareness and patient/caregiver involvement
- Relieves anxiety to know that when you or your caregiver have questions or concerns someone is available to help
- Intervention initiation before a health decline becomes a crisis
- Patients and their families make happy memories for future comfort
- Provides a keepsake that lasts
- Coordinated by Elara Caring team members at no cost to the patient or family
Joint Care Planning is a customized collaboration between Elara Caring and care facilities to maximize superior patient care and provide mutual regulatory support.
A program to improve and maintain overall mental health and wellness. Caring for a loved one at end of life can feel overwhelming. The emotional and physical demands involved with providing care, while coping with the anticipated death, can strain even the most capable caregiver. Mindful CARE provides caregivers with accurate, understandable information to recognize changes in mental well-being and set goals to better manage these changes, if they occur.
The Need a Hand program is a hospice service that will provide a patient and family with that “extra hand” that is sometimes needed. This program offers homemaker services, such as light cleaning, laundering essentials, disinfecting for COVID-19, grocery shopping, basic errands and more.
Benefits:
- Increase in patient care quality and safety.
- Help patients and families address COVID-19 concerns.
- Extra support when patients and their families need it most.
- An added layer of “touch” to increase assessments and patient status awareness.
- Increase in environmental safety and sanitation.
Elara Caring is equipped to help hospice patients navigate each turn with experience, compassion and expertise to provide the right care at the right time in the right place.
Road Map Home helps meet:
- Custodial needs by providing support for activities of daily living (ADLs). These include bathing, eating, dressing and toileting.
- Medical needs by establishing the medical aspects of care needed to stay at home, including: ensuring that medications are managed, doctor appointments are kept, and the right person is in place to make decisions.
- Safety needs by ensuring the home environment and the care we provide to our loved one will be safe.
- Honor veterans’ service to our country
- Brings together veterans and veteran organizations
- Helps educate on veterans’ needs and the unique challenges they may face
- Opens conversation and opportunity for veterans to share their stories of service
Please note: Not all programs are available in all service areas. Contact us for more information.
Volunteer
Available Volunteer Positions
- Companion and respite volunteers offer support to patients and their caregivers through friendly visits.
- Legacy volunteers record patient memories and stories for the patient’s family to have as a keepsake.
- Veteran volunteers offer support to veteran patients and participate in the We Honor Veterans program.
- Pet therapy volunteers and their certified pet therapy dogs visit patients in homes or facilities for added support and socialization.
- Bereavement volunteers provide grief support
- Office volunteers aid with various clerical and administrative tasks in our offices.
- Volunteers may also participate with various special events or share a special gift such as music or crafting.
Congratulations!
Ruth Thomson, DO MBA HMDC FAAHPN
is the recipient of the 2021 Josefina B. Magno Distinguished Hospice Physician Award
This award recognizes a hospice medical director or hospice physician who provides the highest quality services and innovative programs and who demonstrates exemplary dedication to the practice of palliative medicine in a hospice setting.
Ruth Thomson serves as the Elara Caring National Hospice Medical Director. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine and has also achieved Hospice Medical Director Certification. She is a Fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Internists and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and serves on the Executive Committee of the
AAHPM Board of Directors. Having practiced full-time in the field for 19 years, Dr. Thomson has developed a wealth of knowledge and expertise in pain and symptom management at end of life.