Hospice helps patients and families focus on quality of life

It’s about how you live! November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, which serves as a time to share information about hospice that may help community members. Hospice is not a place but is high-quality care that enables patients and families to focus on living as fully as possible despite a life-limiting illness. Hospice care is designed to:

• Ensure that patients and families find dignity, respect, and love during life’s most difficult journey.
• Provide pain management, symptom control, psychosocial support, and spiritual care to patients and their families when a cure is not possible.
• Combine the highest level of quality medical care with the emotional and spiritual support that families need most when facing a serious illness or the end of life.

Videos and stories from families showing the many ways hospice and palliative care make special moments possible can be found at www.momentsoflife.org. Winona Health Hospice Services provides care in homes and in long-term care residences within a 25-mile radius of Winona. More information about hospice and advance care planning is available from Winona Health Winona Area Hospice Services. Call 507.457.4468. # Photo: Winona Health Hospice staff and volunteers provide care and comfort to individuals dealing with a life-limiting illness and their families throughout the area.