Your Care
Is hospice care or palliative care right for you?
At Family First, we offer two distinct care specialties: palliative care and hospice care.
Palliative care and hospice care are NOT the same thing. Let’s touch on the key differences so you can determine the level of specialized care that you need.
Palliative Care
First, Palliative care is a special type of medical care for people who are living with serious, life-altering illness. For example, these include heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OPD), cancer, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and others. After a diagnosis, patients in palliative care continue to receive curative treatments as well as symptom relief. Therefore, palliative care may be thought of as quality of life care. Quality of life is very important to most patients and families who work to manage symptoms of a serious illness.
Hospice Care
Next, Hospice care begins where palliative care ends. Sometimes, it may not be possible to cure a serious illness. Or, a patient may choose not to have certain treatments. Perhaps the illness no longer responds to treatment. Perhaps it cannot be cured. The illness may move too quickly for available treatments. Thankfully, hospice care assists the patient and family at times like these.
In sum, hospice is provided for a person with a terminal illness whose doctor believes they have six months or less to live if the disease runs its natural course. During hospice, all attempts to cure the person’s illness stop. The choice of hospice care allows patients and family to focus on comfort and quality of life at the end of life.
