Hospice and palliative (pronounced PAL-lee-uh-tiv) care are considered models of quality, compassionate care for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury. At Talbot Hospice, we believe that everyone coping with serious illness deserves to direct their course of care and to fully live in comfort, with grace, dignity and peace.
Both palliative care and hospice care provide comfort, but hospice can only begin when it is apparent that the person is not going to survive and treatment of the disease has stopped; palliative care can begin at diagnosis, and at the same time as treatment.
Although the criteria to be enrolled in hospice and palliative care differs, both services manage symptoms to help keep your loved one comfortable. Both share a holistic and integrative approach to the care by treating the whole person — physically, emotionally, spiritually, and socially. Both types of care focus on relieving symptoms, pain and stress, for the patient, their caregivers, and their family.
The goal of Talbot Palliative Care is to improve the quality of life for an individual at any stage in a serious illness, whether the disease is curable, chronic, or life-limiting. Patients receiving palliative care may still continue curative treatment. Talbot Palliative Care works with a patient's physician to manage symptoms and help maintain independence, reduce repeated hospitalizations and ER visits. Talbot Palliative care requires a referral from Community physician, such as primary physician, cardiologist, oncologist, etc. Click here to learn more.
Hospice care provides compassionate care and promotes dignity and comfort at the end of life. Hospice care is for individuals who have ceased curative treatments and /or exhausted all medical treatments. Hospice care focuses on managing pain, symptoms, and stress of end-stage, serious illness during the terminal phase. The hospice care team cares for the "whole person" and addresses the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of both the patient and their loved ones. Hospice care requires a physician referral and signed attestation of a terminal prognosis of 6 months or less. Click here to learn more.
Talbot Hospice offers support to individuals and families before and after the death of a loved one. The bereavement team offers individual and family consultations for adults and children, as well as a number of support groups that meet on a regular basis. Bereavement services are offered without charge and there is no requirement for the deceased loved one to have been a Talbot Hospice patient. Click here to learn more.
The following videos are used below courtesy of the Gateway Geriatric Education Center
