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Hospice: Graduating to the Next Dimension But even the best caregiver will face a point when all their efforts are in vain. At that time, hospice comes in to ease the passage to the next dimension of life. Itís possible to meet this change with a sense of calm, and hospice helps by making life matter to the end. It has had support from stars like Bono, Johnny Depp, and Elton John, along with the many regular folk who choose hospice. In the U.S., the number of hospice patients has more than doubled from about 700,000 in 2000 to 1.5 million at last count. Hospice has grown because it gives people more control over their final days. It is almost always a less costly way of caring for someone whoís near the end, and it can actually prolong life, said a recent study by researchers at Mount Sinai. It also gives peace of mind to families of dementia patients, according to another recent study from Brown Medical School. And medical researchers at UCLA have recommended hospice for their patients with terminal prostate cancer. The benefits of hospice have also come to public attention, and more people want to talk about hospice, according to a nationwide poll by National Journal and Regence Foundation, the largest insurer in the Northwest. They found that 93 percent of those polled feel it is important to make end-of-life issues a priority for health care in this country. The results also showed that 63 percent have experience with hospice care, either for themselves or a family member. Eighty-six percent believe that health insurance should fully cover hospice, and 81 percent believe that Medicare should cover it, too. Besides these mainstream Americans, many high-profile figures have supported hospice. They include members of Congress and former Major League pitcher Bill Krueger. They range from famed pundit Art Buchwald to President Barack Obama who remarked that "all Americans should take comfort in the important work of hospice care, which allows individuals to carry on their lives in spite of a terminal illness." Hospice does this for every patient by providing physical comfort, caring support, and courage to face the unknown. Hospice also guides families through the process of losing a loved one, so they can go on with their lives. Dying can be a hard concept to grasp, but hospice helps us see that death is not the end. Instead, itís about graduating to the next dimension where you can join the stars. Mother Teresa is among them now, and she faced her own demise with this thought: "At the moment of death, we will not be judged according to the number of good deeds we have done or by the diplomas we have received in our lifetime. We will be judged according to the love we have put into our work," and by this standard, you, our country's caregivers, will surely be judged well when that final hour comes. You bring the spirit of love to your work, and not just on this special Home Care & Hospice Month. You do it every month of the year. |
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