Frequently Asked Questions
If your question was not featured below, please contact your local location for more information.
What is Hospice?
Hospice is a specialized type of healthcare that focuses on comfort, quality of life, and support for individuals who have a life-limiting illness when curative treatment is no longer effective or desired. Hospice provides compassionate end-of-life care that helps people live as comfortably and fully as possible, while supporting their loved ones through the journey.
Hospice patients are served as long as their condition requires, and hospice professionals can give them and their loved ones a peaceful transition over a period of time.
When is it appropriate?
Hospice is for patients who meet the necessary medical criteria and have discontinued aggressive treatment. Reasons include treatment that stops working, more side effects than benefits, and no longer wishing to spend so much time in healthcare facilities. Hospice patients wish to comfortably let nature take its course while spending quality time with loved ones. They may still be active and occasionally even leave the home.
Where is service provided?
Hospice services are provided wherever the patient calls home. This could include a private home, assisted living facility, board and care, or skilled nursing facility. Hospice comes to the patient and teaches the family and caregivers how to care for the individual.
Who provides the care?
Patients are able to choose to continue with their current attending physician or have hospice Medical Director take on the role as their attending physician. A nurse case manager oversees the care plan, keeping the patient comfortable and pain-free. An on-call hospice nurse is available at any time. The home health aide can help with personal care such as bathing. The hospice social worker addresses caregiver needs, helps with closure and family dynamics, and finds alternative placement if necessary. A hospice chaplain provides spiritual and bereavement support, and volunteers take over for caregivers who need a break.
How is service given?
Hospice services are delivered through an interdisciplinary team approach that focuses on meeting the physical, emotional, psychosocial, and spiritual needs of both the patient and family. Care is individualized to the patient's goals and plan of care. Hospice focuses on pain and symptom management to promote comfort through end-of-life and bereavement services for survivors for up to 13 months following the death.
Hospice is covered by Medicare, Medi-Cal and most private insurances. Explanation of hospice benefits is not an obligation to choose hospice care.
Why Hospice care?
Hospice services in Redlands are unique in that we are a community-based non-profit program. Not being a large corporation, we are able to provide personal service adhering to federal and state regulations. We are proud of our reputation in the community as a caring, dedicated team. We strive to treat every patient with the respect, dignity, compassion and love we would give our own families.
Tell Me More
To learn more information about hospice as it may pertain to your needs, call for an explanation of benefits at home or at the hospice offices at Redlands Community Hospital. You’ll need a doctor’s order to begin hospice, but we will gladly go over your patient’s options with you. Just call 909.335.5643 or toll-free at 888.397.4999.