What is Hospice?

Hospice care is a special kind of care that focuses on the quality of life for people and their caregivers who are experiencing an advanced, life-limiting illness with a life expectancy of 6 months or less if the illness were to run its normal course. Hospice care provides compassionate care for people in the last phases of incurable disease so that they may live as fully and comfortably as possible. When patients and families decide to shift their focus from curing an illness to alleviating its symptoms, hospice care can support their goals, enhance their quality of life, and honor their choices.

The hospice philosophy accepts death as the final stage of life: it affirms life, but does not try to hasten or postpone death. Hospice care treats the person and symptoms of the disease, rather than treating the disease itself. A team of professionals work together to manage symptoms so that a person’s last days may be spent with dignity and quality, surrounded by their loved ones. Hospice care is also family-centered – it includes the patient and the family in making decisions. Hospice care is about choices and how a person wishes to live his or her final days. It is about the quality, not the quantity of life.

In addition to symptom management, hospice provides necessary medicines, supplies and equipment, and complementary therapies such as music therapy, aromatherapy, massage therapy and pet therapy/visitation.

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When you support the mission of Sojourn Center, you help give terminally ill people and their families the opportunity to experience end-of-life care in a peaceful, meaningful way without discomfort. Through your support, you can honor the memory of your loved ones while helping others.

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“Our ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death but a good life to the very end.”

― Atul Gawande