Winona health hospice caregivers enhance quality of life and provide peace of mind for patients and their families.
“We meet patients and their loved ones where they are during difficult times when support is needed most. Our hospice caregivers recognize that each of our patients have unique wants, needs and histories to honor and celebrate,” said Cheryl Krage, director of Winona Area Hospice.
For close to 25 years, Winona Health’s Winona Area Hospice caregivers have provided supportive care to thousands of Winona-area community members, allowing them to spend their final months wherever they call home, in comfort and with their loved ones close.
What do hospice caregivers do?
Hospice caregivers craft plans of care that ensure pain management, therapies, and treatments, all centered on each patient’s needs, comfort, goals and wishes. Hospice care provides emotional support and advice to family members, helping them become confident caregivers and supporting them through their loved one’s final stages of life. This can include helping patients and families with difficult conversations they may want to have but don’t know how to begin.
“Too often, difficult but important conversations are put off. The patient would like to talk about approaching death but thinks it will make their family too sad. And the family would like to talk about it but they worry their loved one will think they’re ‘giving up on them’ if they bring it up,” explained Dr. Clark. “Hospice nurses and social workers are comfortable and skilled at helping families have these conversations so the family hears what is important to the patient; so that things that need to be done, get done, and things that need to be said, get said.”
And hospice care doesn’t end when a patient dies. Care for a patient’s loved ones continues with grief support as they adjust to their loss.
Caregivers’ perspective
Nancy Bachler and Mary Kaye Perrin, hospice volunteers for decades, share that many families sign up for hospice in the final stages of their loved one’s illness, and once they experience the extent of hospice services and outreach, they regret having waited so long. “I wish we had started hospice care sooner,” is a frequent comment from families receiving hospice care.
“Both Mary Kaye and I have been on the receiving end of hospice services with family members,” shared Bachler. “One of the reasons we volunteer is that we saw how meaningful and extensive their help was — one of the priorities of hospice is to give as much control to the patient and their family as possible.”
Added Perrin, “Knowing how valuable hospice care was for my family makes it especially gratifying to help provide this kind of care. Hospice is about helping a patient and their loved ones get the most out of the time they have together. It truly enhances quality of life and peace of mind – both for the patient and their caregivers.”
Who can receive hospice care?
“A common misconception about hospice,” said Charlotte Clark, MD, medical director for Winona Health Hospice, “is that hospice is primarily for patients who have cancer. Some hospice patients do have cancer, but people who have dementia, or heart, lung, liver, kidney or other diseases are also eligible for hospice benefits when they reach the final stages of their illness as defined by Medicare guidelines.”
Hospice care is covered by Medicare, Medicaid and many private insurance policies as well. “Don’t fail to take advantage of the benefit for hospice services to which you are entitled,” encourages Dr. Clark. “Families benefit so much more when hospice caregivers have a longer time to work with them.”
To receive more information about hospice and advance care planning, call Winona Health – Winona Area Hospice at 507-457-4468 or visit www.winonahealth.org.
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