Hospice and Palliative care is a specialized type of medical care for people with serious illnesses, such as heart failure or cancer.
Hospice helps patients and families address the various social, emotional, and practical challenges associated with end of life. In this situation, patients and their families are often under a great deal of stress and in need of a highly skilled social worker to help them process and address the challenges they face.
Hospice and palliative care social workers have special knowledge of how the healthcare system works and can help patients and families understand their care options. They can also help identify and secure services that can improve quality of life and help patients and families plan for these services.
End of Life Preparations
End of life preparations are those steps a person takes to determine how they want to spend their last days and to get their affairs in order. Also known as advance care planning, end of life preparations often involve completing essential documents, such as a living will, a last will and testament, and a healthcare proxy that names someone to make healthcare decisions for the patient as needed.
Having a hospice social worker help with the end of life preparations can help ensure that a patient’s final wishes are fulfilled, reduce stress for patients and their families, and help improve the quality of time that patients and families spend together.
Palliative and Hospice Care Counseling Services
End of life can be a challenging time for all parties. Emotions can run high as patients, family and friends try to sort out their feelings, deal with the physical or emotional pain, and express themselves. Even the smallest decision can seem insurmountable, especially if nobody is really sure what the patient wants. The role of social workers in palliative and hospice care is to help patients and families make decisions and navigate their emotions.
Patient Support
A palliative or hospice social worker will work with the patient to evaluate their personal needs and goals. Social worker responsibilities include helping patients and families get the medical counseling and hospice care counseling they need.
Family Support
A hospice and palliative care social worker also provides individualized advice and support for the patient’s family. This support helps families engage in difficult conversations about end of life and plan for the future.
How Unique Hospice Care Can Help
Unique Hospice offers a combination of social work and counseling services to provide patients and families with the support and assistance they need as they navigate through the end of life journey. Our approach to hospice social work uses a patient-focused, family-centered approach that supports patients, loved ones, and caregivers during a difficult time. For more information and to get help from a palliative or hospice care social worker, contact Unique Hospice today.