Hospice Care
Hospice is for those facing any type of life-limiting illness
or disease choosing comfort care rather than curative
treatment.
Time with us. Time you gain.
We are not just hospice – we are Adoray Hospice, an independent, local, not-for-profit agency dedicated to providing
the utmost in compassionate, meaningful end-of-life care. Since 1995, Adoray Hospice has provided care, comfort and
support to more than 12,000 patients and their families throughout western Wisconsin’s St. Croix River Valley.
(View our Service Area here).
Our care is patient and family focused, meaning completely focused on your needs. We begin by asking “What do
you want?” We’ll encourage you to think and talk about personal choices on how to live. With your guidance, we’ll
create a plan of care to support your goals and wishes that works for both the patient and family. Above all else, our
care is about helping you live more fully by increasing quality of life through pain and symptom management, as well
as emotional and spiritual support. We’ll help you focus on living and embracing the experiences that bring meaning
and joy to life.
What is Hospice? Hospice is a choice.
HOSPICE CARE is for patients and their families facing
end of life care and for whom curing illness is no longer
possible or beneficial. Choosing hospice does not mean
giving up hope. Rather, it is an empowering choice that
a patient and their family makes when hope has shifted
from pursuit of a cure to a desire for dignity, comfort,
and quality of life. Our hospice team partners with our
patients and their families to prepare for the end of life
by respecting the choices they make, providing the care they deserve and gently supporting their loved ones along the
way. Our emphasis is on quality of life, on comfort, and compassionate care through advanced symptom and pain
management, as well as emotional and spiritual support. Our intent is for you to achieve the highest quality of living
that your health and circumstances will allow.
Patients live wherever they call home and are cared for by family, friends or paid caregivers with the assistance of the
hospice team who provides support and training. The hospice team does not provide 24/7 in home care, however, hospice
does provide 24/7 triage support.
Although many people associate hospice care with cancer, hospice care is available for anyone regardless of age, with
a life-limiting illness and a life expectancy of six month or less.
Not Ready for Hospice Care?
Explore Palliative Care by Adoray services that help people cope better with serious
illnesses while they continue to pursue a cure.
View Palliative Care Information
Disease may include, but are not limited to:
- Cancer
- Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) or Heart Disease
- Lung Disease, such as COPD
- Kidney Disease
- Dementia
- AIDS
- End-stage Neurological Diseases
We endeavor to support each individual, affirm life and accept dying as a normal process.
The Hospice Team. Coordinated Care.
Hospice care is a team-centered approach to caring for people.
The Hospice Team is composed of specialists in hospice care;
they coordinate their activities and frequency of visits, and
include the patient, family members and the patient’s physician
in developing a plan of caring that honors the patient’s wishes
and supports the family’s needs.
Hospice Multidisciplinary Team of Experts include:
Who is Eligible?
Patients facing a life limiting illness, who have stopped aggressive
treatment are eligible for hospice care when the determination is made
that life expectancy is six month or less if the disease or illness follows its usual course.
Who Pays for Hospice?
Hospice is an elected benefit of most insurance plans including Medicare,
Medicaid, VA, and private policies. Medicare covers the cost of clinical
staff visits, medications, home equipment and supplies related to the life
limiting illness and comfort. While every insurance company is a little different,
many have inclusive plans similar to Medicare.
Adoray will help determine eligibility for services and verify insurance coverage.
Adoray Home Health & Hospice is a not-for-profit community agency that provides
hospice care to anyone, regardless of ability to pay.
When is it time to call hospice? Timing Is Everything.
Hospice is a personal choice and should be made when you feel
it’s time to focus on comfort rather than cure. The decision to
begin care is determined by you and your family.
Research shows that hospice care works best and is most beneficial to you
and your loved one when started early on. We often hear families express
that they wish they’d called Adoray Hospice sooner. Patients who begin hospice
care sooner have the opportunity to make use of our expertise in helping with
pain control and symptom management. Also, families caring for a loved one
can benefit from the support our hospice team brings. We can share some of
the responsibilities caregiving and offer emotional and spiritual support.
Choosing to let us help earlier can increase the quality of time left. Studies
have shown that patients on hospice have actually live longer. Reducing pain,
symptoms, and easing responsibilities will let you and your loved one focus
less on the disease and more on enjoying time together.
We Honor Veterans
One out of every four dying Americans is a Veteran. That’s 1,800 people a day; more than 680,000 Veterans every year.
These heroic Americans deserve recognition for their military service – particularly at the end of life’s journey.
To help provide care and support that reflects the important contributions made by these men and women, Adoray Hospice
has become a national partner of We Honor Veterans (WHV).
WHV is a collaboration of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) to help improve the care Veterans receive from hospice and palliative care providers. The WHV
Partnership empowers hospice professionals to meet the unique needs of dying Veterans. It teaches respectful
inquiry, compassionate listening and grateful acknowledgement, to comfort patients with a history of military
service and possibly physical and psychological trauma. While the mission may be straightforward, fulfilling
it is anything but simple as each Veteran patient has a unique life story and a unique set of needs.
With a focus on respectfully learning and addressing their individual circumstances, Adoray, a proud Level 3
Partner, is helping these heros find lasting peace in life’s final chapter.
Learn more about the WHV Program:
Adoray strives to honor each Veteran patient at every opportunity. Veterans receiving hospice services have the opportunity to be recognized through a Recognition Ceremony, which includes a branch specific certificate, VA/Hospice Partnership pin, and a handmade patriotic quilt. Available Adoray staff members attend the Recognition Ceremony and each Veteran is encouraged to invite friends and family.
Additionally, Adoray tries to pair veteran patients with a Veteran volunteer who may have a better understanding of what the Veteran has experienced.
Each Veteran is offered a Veteran Volunteer at admission.
Veteran Volunteers may assist with:
- Providing companionship to Veteran patients
- Playing card/board games
- Conversation
- Life Review
- Letter writing
- Light housekeeping
- Providing caregivers with a much needed break
- Participating in Veteran Recognition Ceremonies
- And much more!
* Veteran Volunteers are not able to perform any hands-on care. Hands-on care is provided by the patient’s caregiver or by Adoray clinical staff.
Please contact Leann Lifto at l.lifto@adorayhomecare.org or by phone at 715.629.1905 or 800.359.0174 for more information.
Pet Peace of Mind
Keeping Pets and People Together Through Hospice Care
What is Pet Peace of Mind?
For many in hospice care, a decline in physical condition impacts a patient’s
ability to enjoy socializing and maintaining human relationships over time.
Pets often fill that relational void as they offer unconditional love, acceptance,
comfort and companionship at a time when it’s needed most.
Pet Peace of Mind (PPOM), a groundbreaking national program, enables hospice
patients to keep their pets at home throughout their end of life journey.
PPOM hospice volunteers are specially trained to provide in-home pet care
assistance when the patient needs help caring for a pet.
Services offered include:
- Walk or play with your pet
- Pet clean up – yard and litter boxes
- Provide pet food or cat litter
- Pet boarding if needed
- Required vaccinations
- Transportation to facilities to visit owners
- Assistance with finding a “forever home” if family is not able to keep pet after patient’s death
We believe no one should have to give up a pet because they are terminally ill.
Please contact Leann Lifto at l.lifto@adorayhomecare.org or by phone at 715.629.1905 or 800.359.0174 for more information.
Hospice Testimonials
There are no words to express the importance of Adoray in our life.
The love and concern expressed and shown by the entire team helped
us in this journey with dad. Thank you all so much. We miss you!
– daughter of a hospice patient
I want to personally thank you for the wonderful care you gave to my Aunt.
[She] was able to remain at home, under your excellent supervision to
maintain her comfort, as she fought a battle against cancer. It was
her wish that she’d be able to die at home, and because you have such
a caring staff – she was able to do just that. We’re thankful to your
hospice program.
– niece of a hospice patient
Thank you so very much for the compassion and care you gave our father in
his last days. You touched not only his heart, but ours as well. He
liked your honesty and he knew he could count on you. It was very important
to Dad that he maintain control and you allowed him to make his own decisions.
What a tremendous comfort to us to know you were such an important part of
his care.
– family of a hospice patient
I can’t say enough to thank all of you at hospice for all your care,
not only for our Mom, but for all of us. She finally did let others
help her in her own way and time. I hope you know the heart holds you
in a special place.
– daughter of a hospice patient
Getting Started
If you have questions, we’ll make it easy to get answers or to talk to someone about your needs and concerns.
We’re here, ready to give you more information about the benefits of hospice care, offer choices and options, or help you begin care. Anyone can ask for hospice care.
Call us today to begin a conversation, and Discover the Adoray Difference!
Hospice Referral Form
Our enrollment team responds promptly to referral requests throughout each day.
However, if there is an urgent need and outside the hours of 8:00am – 4:30pm,
please also call Adoray Enrollment at 800.359.0174.