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Hospice Education and Support
End-of-life care resources for you and your family/caregiver
Whether you are a patient preparing to enter hospice or part of the family unit, preparing for hospice care can be an overwhelming and emotional journey. Our hospice team understands how important it is to have the right support and resources to help manage the emotions and caregiving responsibilities of end-of-life-care.
Support, resources, and services are available at any time during hospice care.
Caregiving support
Your family/caregivers play a vital role in assisting in your care. Whether your family/caregiver is looking for nutrition information or how to complete an advance directive form, the information below can help. You can also reach out to the hospice team for additional community resources.
- Caregiver Resources
- Advance Directives
- Grief Classes
- Nutritional Information for hospice care
Bereavement support
Our bereavement support groups offer encouragement and comfort during the patient’s illness and following the loss of a loved one. Henry Ford Hospice support groups are also open to the community at large and anyone who is grieving the loss of a loved one.
- SandCastles: A grief support program for children ages 3 to 18 coping with the loss of a loved one.
- Bereavement News: Henry Ford Hospice monthly newsletter designed to help people living with grief.
- 2024 Bereavement Support Groups: Join the Henry Ford Hospice bereavement teams for virtual and in-person support groups.
If you are interested in registering for a support group or receiving the latest edition of our bereavement newsletter, call (586) 276-9570.
Myths
| Hospice Myth |
Fact |
|---|---|
| Hospice is a place. |
Hospice is wherever you live- home, nursing home, assisted living, group home. |
| Hospice care is done in the hospital. | Hospice care is provided wherever you live. Hospital care with hospice is for patients who need medication to treat a symptom that cannot be supplied at home and is very short term. |
| Hospice is only for people with cancer. | Hospice is for patients with all types of diagnoses. |
| Hospice is expensive and insurance does not cover it. | Hospice is covered under Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurances. |
| Hospice is for people in the last few days of life. | The hospice benefit states hospice is for 6 months. |
| Hospice decreases life expectancy. |
Hope changes throughout our lives. What we hope for today is likely not what we hoped for a year, 2 years, 10 years ago. Hope in hospice is not for a “cure”. Hope is whatever you and your family/caregiver hope for. For some people it is:
|
| Hospice will stop all my loved one’s medication. | Hospice staff do a medication review to determine which medications are still beneficial. |
| Hospice will start morphine and kill my loved one. | Hospice will assess all symptoms and the doctor/nurse practitioner will recommend/ prescribe needed medications to control symptoms at an appropriate dosage for you. |