It’s about how you live. This is the theme for 2017 to celebrate National Hospice and Palliative Care Month. Hospice and palliative care programs across the country are reaching out to raise awareness about hospice and palliative care. Hospice is not a place but is high-quality care that enables patients and families to focus on living as fully as possible despite a life-limiting illness. Palliative care brings this holistic model of care to people earlier in the course of a serious illness.
“Every year, nearly 1.4 million people living with a life-limiting illness receive care from hospices in this country,” said Edo Banach, president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. “These highly-trained professionals ensure that patients and families find dignity, respect, and love during life’s most difficult journey.”
Hospice and palliative care programs provide pain management, symptom control, psychosocial support, and spiritual care to patients and their families when a cure is not possible. Hospice and palliative care combines the highest level of quality medical care with the emotional and spiritual support that families need most when facing a serious illness or the end of life.
More information about hospice, palliative care, and advance care planning is available from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s (NHPCO) CaringInfo.org.
