What can I expect at Sojourn Center Hospice House?

Sojourn Center Hospice House seeks to provide compassionate end-of-life care that terminally ill patients often cannot receive at home, in a hospital, or in a nursing home. Sojourn Center seeks to care for patients faced with a life-limiting illness who have elected a medical plan of care focused on comfort and quality as opposed to cure. Even when one chooses a palliative or comfort centered approach, hospital-like care may be necessary in order to manage symptoms in a way that achieves that needed comfort. It serves as place of intensive, palliative centered treatment for those who do not wish to be hospitalized. Sojourn Center will provide skilled, compassionate medical care by medical experts in a home-like environment. Sometimes, a brief stay in a hospice house, usually one to two weeks, can help patients stabilize and return home with a plan of care that promotes their comfort and safety. Sojourn Center hospice house will:

• provide the setting for 24-hour hospice care at one of three levels
• inpatient hospice facility initially with six to ten beds
• offer a homelike interior with private bedrooms and shared indoor and outdoor areas
• furnish comfortable space and unlimited visitation for family members, friends, and even pets

Sojourn Center hospice care will:

• Offer around-the-clock nursing services with individualized care plans, and daily visits by a hospice provider
• Provide relief of uncontrolled pain and other symptom management
• Utilize ongoing family support services
• Minimize suffering

Families/Individuals should choose Sojourn Center when:

• Needing an acute level of patient care that requires nursing skills and medical services beyond that which the hospice agency can offer at home.
• Seeking a home-like alternative for patients unable to return home from the hospital.
• Needing respite care when the patient’s primary caregiver is unable or unavailable to continue care.
• Desiring a residential setting for dying when the family or patient prefers the death not to occur at home, a hospital, or a nursing or assisted living setting.
• Wishing to relieve family anxiety or energy loss by using expert end-of-life inpatient services.

  Sojourn Center Hospice House will be designed to provide three levels of hospice care to patients.

GENERAL INPATIENT CARE

• Patients sometimes experience intense episodes of pain or other symptoms that cannot be managed at home. In the hospice house, clinicians focus entirely on managing those symptoms. Nursing care, provided 24 hours a day, is complimented by nursing assistants and other disciplines specially trained in hospice and palliative care.
• Once symptoms are controlled, patients often return home. Medicare and Medicaid cover this level of care at 100% when medically necessary – usually for an average of 4-5 days. This level of care may be approved by private insurance on a case-by-case basis, as an alternative to hospitalization.

INPATIENT RESPITE CARE

• Respite care provides temporary relief for the patient’s primary caregiver in a hospice facility, hospital or a long-term care facility for a maximum of 5 consecutive days.
• This level of care is usually planned and is based on bed availability.
• Respite care is typically covered 100% for those with Medicare/Medicaid coverage. Coverage by other plans may vary according to the policy for patients who have other insurance.

RESIDENTIAL CARE

• Routine hospice care (residential care) is the most common level of hospice care and is generally provided in a patient’s home.
• Short-term residential care can be provided in a hospice inpatient facility on a case by case basis for those who desire or require basic room & board care. There is a charge for room and board, which is not covered by Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance.