Hospice Care

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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