Located within the bustling hub of San Benito County, Hollister is a charming city full of opportunities for both the young and old. Originally established by a humble group of farmers and ranch hands, Hollister is now one of the largest cities in California’s Central Coast. One can always find tourists and local citizens enjoying the beautiful, historical sights that Hollister has to offer.
As the city of Hollister continues to grow, so does it’s aging senior population. If you or an aging loved one are like most senior citizens of Hollister, you probably want to spend your golden years in the private comfort of your home. Unfortunately, aging at home can be difficult without the necessary aid of home health care services. Luckily, the elderly population of Hollister has a variety of resources to choose from.
One of the best home health care providers on the Central Coast is Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice (VNA). For years, VNA’s exceptional staff of health care professionals has been providing phenomenal health care services to the citizens of Hollister. Their two most popular forms of home health care are hospice care and palliative care.
If you know an elderly loved one whose health is declining, or if you are a senior citizen yourself who wants to live a quality life at home, palliative or hospice care are great, affordable options. However, deciding which option works best for your unique situation can be tricky. Fortunately, VNA has created a helpful guide to make things easier for you. Keep reading to learn more about hospice care and palliative care, as well as the useful benefits they each provide.
What Is Hospice Care?
Hospice care is a type of end of life care that focuses not on curing but, on providing each patient with compassionate support and customized health care. It can take place in numerous areas and is available to anyone, regardless or race, gender, religion, or illness.
At VNA Hospice, patients and their families are able to collaborate with a team of health care specialists to create a personalized plan of care. This not only helps meet all of the patient’s unique needs, it also helps ease the stress many family members and caregivers face when looking after someone who is terminally ill.
What Are The Benefits Of Hospice Care?
Hospice care provides patients with a number of benefits. Here are some of hospice care’s most noteworthy benefits:
1.) You Can Age In The Comfort Of Your Home
One of the most common misconceptions about hospice care is that patients need to be in the hospital to be eligible. However, this simply isn’t true. While hospice care can take place at the hospital, it usually happens elsewhere. For example, most patients choose to receive hospice care in the comfort of their homes or in a nursing facility. In short, hospice care happens at whatever location the patient would like it to.
2.) You Can Enjoy Personalized Care And Support
Hospice care does so much more than just meet the health needs of each patient. When a patient chooses to get hospice care, they are giving themselves the option to have all of their needs taken care of.
For example, at VNA Hospice, a group of health care professionals will collaborate to make sure each patient’s unique physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological needs are addressed. All of this is done to ensure the patient enjoys the highest quality of life possible.
What Is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is also a form of specialized health care. It focuses on providing pain relief and personalized support for patients and their families. Palliative care is usually provided by a team of medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, and more. It can also be helpful for patients who need additional help at home but, do not meet all of the requirements needed to receive hospice care.
What Are The Benefits Of Palliative Care?
Like hospice care, palliative care also boasts an impressive number of benefits. In fact, some patients who receive palliative care choose to also receive hospice care as the severity of their illness increases. These patients like that they have the ability to start their care plan much earlier with hospice care. Here are some of the most useful benefits patients receive from palliative care:
1.) You Don’t Have To Worry About Time Restrictions
Unlike hospice care, where patients are generally only eligible if they are terminally ill or are within six months of death, palliative care can begin at any time. No time restrictions means you can receive palliative care as early as you like. The severity of your illness or it’s current stage will not limit your eligibility for care.
2.) You Can Have Complete Flexibility In Your Treatment Options
Since palliative care does not have any time restrictions, it is easier for patients to get exactly what they want. Patients and their families are able to develop a personalized care plan that fully encompasses the patient’s needs. In addition to receiving the same type of care and comfort hospice patients get, palliative patients can also try life-prolonging therapies.
Being able to start palliative at any time allows the patient to fully gage his or her pain limits and comfort needs well before their illness progresses. This extra time makes it easier for everyone involved to decide what treatments would be most beneficial to the patient.
Want To Learn More About Hospice Care and Palliative Care?
Even though end of life care can be a difficult topic to discuss, it is important that loved ones and family members discuss their wishes before it is too late. Knowing one’s wishes will be followed even at a time when one cannot express them can be a huge stress relief for many senior citizens. Choosing hospice care or palliative care for yourself or loved ones does not mean you are giving up hope. It means you are choosing to have you and your elderly family members fully live a high quality life to the best of your individual abilities.
To learn more about the benefits of both palliative and hospice care, please contact Visiting Nurse Association at 831-703-8444. One of their nurses will get back to you as soon as possible to answer all of your questions.