Hospice: Living Every Moment to the Fullest

            Rarely do people initially associate hospice services with an opportunity to get the most out of life.  After all, hospice is a service provided exclusively for individuals with a terminal condition who no longer wish to seek treatment.  Doctors send patients home on hospice when they can no longer do anything to treat their condition. 

But in reality, hospice is not intended to help people to die; it is intended to help people to live every moment to the fullest before they die, and then when death does come, to allow natural processes to run their course while preserving dignity and maximizing comfort.  Helping people get the most out of their life is a deeply personal journey because each person defines their life so differently. 

The special and unique touch that the hospice team brings to each person is their ability to meet people where they are in their experience, rather than telling them where they “need to” or “should” be.  Hospice focuses on the person as a whole; a person who has a diagnosis and is facing death, but who also has hopes and dreams. 

            Hospice provides an interdisciplinary team that provides a wide range of services.  In addition to providing physical comfort, the most important shared responsibility of all team members is to assist the patient in accomplishing his or her goals when possible before death.  Some have a desire to repair relationships with estranged family members.  Others want to travel to New York, Hawaii, etc.  For some that may mean an actual trip that their family takes them on and for others it may mean bringing New York or Hawaii home (e.g., a special luau with friends and family, having a Broadway play/movie marathon at home, etc.).  This approach helps people to focus on the joys of life rather than on the fear of death.

            Although facing the prospect of death can be overwhelming, hospice can help patients to get the most out of the time they have left.  The hospice commitment is to improve quality of life and contribute to the joy of the journey before life is over.