Hospice Care Thousand Oaks, CA

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What is Hospice Care

Hospice care is a team of health care professionals and specialists in Thousand Oaks, CA who provide physical, emotional, and spiritual support to people with a terminal illness. Hospice care is designed to maximize the quality of life for the patient, and offer comfort and dignity.

Hospice care is not intended to treat or cure any disease or illness. Hospice care in Thousand Oaks, CA is provided for terminally ill patients who have been diagnosed with a life-limiting illness and the prognosis for survival is six months or less. The patient’s goals during hospice care are to make the patient as comfortable as possible within reason and to maximize the quality of life

A hospice care team in Thousand Oaks will include doctors, nurses, chaplains, social workers, counselors, therapists and usually a family member will be the primary caregiver. The goal is to provide pain relief while offering emotional support along with coordinating any other long-term medical needs that may arise.

Hospice care is provided in the patient’s home in Thousand Oaks, but certain conditions may require inpatient hospice care. With the patient and family, the hospice care team makes all decisions regarding the patient’s medical needs. The team discusses with the family how to handle issues such as resuscitation, chemotherapy, surgery, antibiotics and other treatments. Hospice care teams help patients live out their last days and weeks most comfortably by providing medical care for pain relief, respite for caregivers and emotional support.

Hospice Care Services

The three major components of hospice care include physical, psychological, and spiritual/religious.

Physical: Hospice provides medical services to alleviate physical symptoms such as restlessness, pain, nausea, and vomiting. Also included are services to prevent bedsores and other complications of immobility or illness. Hospice medical staff also provide pharmaceutical treatments for relief from symptoms caused by the terminal illness such as pain management or respirator support if it is needed.

Psychological: The focus of the hospice staff is to optimize the quality of life. Hospice services are available for both patient and family. The focus of the hospice palliative care includes relief from pain and other symptoms, maintaining a comfortable environment for the patient, offering support for family members in their time of grief, working through any spiritual issues that may be present, and helping those involved cope with death.

Spiritual: Hospice provides spiritual and religious care for patients, family members, and anyone else involved. The hospice team includes a chaplain and social workers who may be able to help with spiritual counseling and problems, or may be able to offer support to the patient’s minister in matters of religion. [Hospice Care Is Not A Religion Alternative]

Hospice care with proper coordination between hospice and other health care professionals, including extended care facilities and providers, can provide a continuum of support for those in need. The goal of hospice in Thousand Oaks, CA is to allow the patient to live out their last days in comfort and dignity. Hospice is not provided as an integration alternative to mainstream medicine or as a means of hastening death. Hospice is designed to help patients and families cope with the impending loss. Hospice supports the family’s decision on how to manage medical issues such as pain medication, antibiotics or other treatments. The family is supported in their decision to have a ritual, ceremony or service of their choosing at the end of life. Hospice can be a vital part of the civil society, helping people find meaning and face death with dignity in Thousand Oaks, CA.