Hospice

Hospice Medical Director

The hospice medical director is specifically trained in end-of-life care. They communicate frequently with the hospice team and oversee your care. The hospice medical director works with the primary physician and RN case manager to ensure medical care is individualized for your needs. The primary physician and hospice medical director determine your initial and on-going hospice eligibility.

Physician and Nurses

Primary Physician (PCP)
Your primary physician (PCP) stays involved throughout your time on hospice. With your primary physician, the hospice medical director and RN case manager will collaborate and coordinate care.

Hospice Nurse Practitioner (NP)
The hospice nurse practitioner (NP) works with the medical director and RN case manager to oversee your hospice care. The NP is available for visits to help manage severe symptoms. After the first six months in hospice and every two months following, the NP (or medical director) will visit you in person to confirm hospice eligibility.

Registered Nurse (RN) Case Manager
The registered nurse (RN) case manager is usually the most frequent visitor you see each week. They oversee coordination of care among all members of your care team. The nurse’s responsibilities include:

• Managing admissions, visits and are on call
• Managing symptoms such as pain, nausea, shortness of breath
• Assessing care needs and comfort
• Determining a plan of care for your home health aide
• Coordinating care with your primary physician
• Ordering medications and equipment needed for comfort and safety
• Providing education on the progression of illness
• Providing caregiver training including feeding, transferring, repositioning in bed, toileting, etc.

Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)
The licensed practical nurse (LPN) assists the RN case manager and care team to provide nursing care through home visits.

Hospice Call Team

Our hospice call team answers our phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are available to answer questions, provide support and visit when needed.

Social Worker

The social worker provides support and advocates for you and your
caregiver(s). They bring insight, support and recommendations like:

• Encouraging you, your family and caregivers to discuss ideas, goals and
  objectives of care
• Guiding end-of-life discussions and advance care planning (ACP)
  including completing a health care directive (HCD)
• Assisting, supporting and intervening to address fear, anxiety, depression and grief and introducing coping strategies
• Connecting you to community resources including meal and housing assistance
• Helping answer questions regarding topics like financial assistance, social security, insurance, Medicare and Medical Assistance (MA)
• Supporting you in funeral planning and arrangements

Spiritual Counselor

The spiritual counselor offers emotional and spiritual support to you, your family and caregivers. Spiritual counselors are interfaith; their job is to support you in your beliefs. Spiritual counselors are skilled at:

• Working with people of all faith traditions and people with no faith tradition
• Helping guide end-of-life conversations, supporting you through challenges and exploring opportunities to find meaning
• Encouraging sharing of personal stories about religious trauma
• Facilitating connection with faith communities and arranging for desired
  rituals like communion and anointment
• Providing support from an inclusive, interfaith viewpoint that helps people find meaning, comfort and hope no matter the religion or beliefs
• Assisting in planning a memorial service or celebration of life
• Helping bring you greater inner peace

A spiritual counselor will call you to introduce themselves and gauge your interest in their support.

Hospice Home Health Aide

The hospice home health aide helps with bathing, dressing and other personal cares. They can assist with light homemaking tasks such as laundry, changing bedding and light house cleaning.

Pharmacist

The pharmacist reviews all prescription medications, attends weekly care team meetings and provides guidance for medication management. They review interactions between medications and advise on best practices for treatment of distressing symptoms.