Agnesian

Since the first hospice program in the United States began serving patients and families in 1974, the use of these services has grown exponentially each year. Despite this, the median length of time that people receive hospice care is 20 days. For most patients and families facing life-limiting illnesses, that is simply not enough.

To that end, Agnesian HealthCare’s Hospice Hope program has been working to develop a model of care that brings the key services it provides to patients and their families much earlier.

While “hospice” focuses on caring for people as they near death, it is a part of a much larger field called “Palliative Care."

Over the years, hospices have developed very effective strategies to relieve the suffering of dying patients and give them back some very good time to enjoy with their friends and families at the end of their lives. As hospices have become increasingly more skilled at relieving suffering, many have asked, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could apply the same principles and techniques to these patients earlier in the course of their diseases before they are considered terminal.”

Palliative Care is just such an answer, bringing the same type of symptom-focused care to patients who are not ready for hospice. While hospice’s focus and goal is the relief of suffering, it requires a patient be in the last few months of their life. Patients on hospice, in general, cannot be receiving treatments to prolong their lives. Palliative Care applies the same principles of symptom-focused care, and the interdisciplinary team approach, but much earlier in the disease.