As you consider contacting one of many health care agencies in your area, you must first understand the difference between curative and palliative measures. Palliative measures allow patients to receive pain and symptom control while receiving comfort and support from reliable professionals and loved ones. Curative care is the type of support designed to help cure a patient of a diagnosed illness or disease. While both types of care are offered to people of all ages, palliative measures are those most likely taken at a hospice program.
Requirements
There are a number of requirements you must consider when contacting health care agencies to determine whether you are qualified to receive hospice care. You must understand from the start you have a terminal illness and how important it is to stop your curative care and focus on palliative care instead. You should also expect to be offered this solution only if you are within the final six months of your life, so long as the illness takes its expected course.
In addition, you do not need to have cancer to receive hospice care offered by health care agencies, but you do need to meet the requirements mentioned above. Finally, if you are willing to have someone make healthcare decisions on your behalf in the event you cannot make them yourself, you are qualified to receive hospice care from trained professionals. The more you do to simplify the end of your life, the more comfortable you will be in those crucial final months.
Why Six Months
It is an established federal guideline that you be given a six-month life expectancy or less from a minimum of two relevant physicians. This is a realistic and reliable amount of time needed by the hospice care team to provide you the ideal assistance experience, especially if you are in intense pain. You can visit to learn more about hospice care and what it could do for you or your afflicted loved one. You can follow them on Google+ for more information.
