Programs & Services
Advantage Hospice & Home Care provides palliative care and support for persons with terminal illness and a prognosis of having six months or less to live. The goal of hospice is to help our patients live fully as possible and to provide comfort and relief from pain and symptoms during their last months of life.
Advantage Hospice & Home Care provides the following services:
- Nursing care focusing on comfort and relief from pain and other symptoms
- 24-hour on-call availability of a registered nurse
- Assistance with a patient's personal hygiene
- Emotional and spiritual support for patients and their families
- Assistance ordering medical supplies and equipment
- Instruction in caregiving to help family members care for their loved one
- Assistance with respite care, companionship, meal preparation, errands, and direct patient care by specially trained hospice volunteers
- Spiritual counseling for all faiths
- Assistance with benefit applications and documents such as living wills or advanced directives
- Bereavement counseling and support for family members
The Interdisciplinary Team
An interdisciplinary team of professionals and trained volunteers strive to meet the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of each patient and family. The patient's physician leads the care provided and is joined by a Registered Nurse Case Manager, Medical Social Worker, Medical Director, Home Health Aide, Chaplain, volunteer coordinator, and hospice trained volunteers, and other health-care specialists as needed.
Role of the Nurse
Registered nurses (RN) coordinate patient care with the patient's referring physician, who continues to direct medical care for his/her patient. Our nurses serve as case managers, and patients are individually assigned to a nurse. The nurse will instruct family members and/or caregivers in caring for the patient at home, or will work with the hospital staff or other appropriate community agencies when hospice care takes place at an inpatient unit or other setting. Their main role is to help with pain relief, symptom control, and general patient care. Our nurse will visit a patient at least once a week or more, according to your needs.
Role of the Medical Social Worker
Medical social workers (MSW) help patients and family members deal with the social, psychological, financial, and other related factors that affect a family's ability to cope with terminal illness. Advantage Hospice & Home Care social workers provide emotional and practical support to patients and their families, including help with benefit applications and documents such as living wills, advance directives, and funeral plans. Our social worker will visit at least once a month or more, according to your needs.
On-going bereavement support is offered to family members and loved ones for up to one year following a patient's death. We offer counseling, grief education and group support. Professional referrals are made when needed. For more information visit the Bereavement Program section.
Role of the Home Health Aide
Home health aides assist with personal hygiene, bedmaking, dressing changes, and general care as appropriate to help make the patient as comfortable as possible.
Role of the Chaplain
Advantage Hospice & Home Care offers non-denominational, spiritual support as part of its care. Whether you consider yourself 'religious' or not, each of us has a spiritual component to our life that gives us meaning and purpose. Some patients ask our Chaplain to assist them in reconnecting to their faith. Others find that our Chaplain can help them frame their life in a meaningful way through talking and sharing stories from their life. Our Chaplain can also help address issues such as regret, forgiveness, and abandonment. Tough questions such as "Why me?" or "Why now?" may be explored.
Counselors of various denominations are also available for visits at the request of the patient and family. The number of visits will vary according to your needs.
Role of the On-call Nurse
An on-call nurse (RN) provides support after hours and on weekends as part of your hospice benefits. Your individual nurse case manager will provide patient status reports to the on-call nurse to ensure that your continuum of care is smooth and updated.
We recommend calling the on-call nurse when you are faced with a situation you do not know how to handle. The on-call nurse will make a home visit when he or she feels it is necessary. Although we would like to be able to provide home visits simply because they are requested, having only one on-call nurse makes this impossible. Hopefully most of your needs will be taken care of during the visits by the daytime interdisciplinary team members. The intent of providing an on-call nurse after hours is to meet your emergency needs. If a death occurs during on-call hours, the on-call nurse will make a home visit.
Role of the Volunteer
Trained volunteers are an important part of the hospice team. They provide support by providing limited personal care, including respite care for family members and other caregivers, running errands, light housekeeping, preparing meals, and providing emotional support, comfort and companionship to a patient and family. If you request volunteer care, the number of volunteers and the frequency of their visits will vary according to your needs.
If you would like a volunteer to come assist you, you should speak with your nurse case manager or social worker. Volunteers are brought onto the team to supplement the caregiving plan, not to replace the primary caregiver.
