Hospice care is there to ease the transition of a person’s life when they’re in the final stages of an illness or injury that they’re not expected to survive. Although there’s no one set reason for hospice care, many families know the fear and confusion that can happen when it’s brought up: especially when it involves a child.
Children’s hospice care is a necessary tool to help children and their families as they face a diagnosis that they don’t have more than six months left. These are the types of care and what they can do for these children and their families.
Hospice Care at Home
Many families choose hospice care at home because they don’t like the idea of being apart from their children for any period of time. Many hospice services will provide routine visits, with team members ensuring comfort and dignity for the children. Using diagnosis-specific equipment, medication, and supplies, they ensure the children get the best care they can from the comfort of their own homes. Some families hire a live-in care employee to help ease the strain, but this isn’t always necessary.
Continuous Hospice Care
Continuous hospice care is when patients have acute symptoms and want to avoid hospitalization. These are also known as intensive care hospice patients and can be cared for either in their home or in a children’s hospice facility that can offer the care they need. This is a good tool to ensure they spend as little time in a hospital as possible and can maintain comfort.
Inpatient Hospice Care
If symptoms aren’t able to be managed at home, for a variety of reasons, inpatient care allows the children to live in a 24/7 support facility until the patient can return home. This allows a comfortable environment with other children who are going through what your child may, which ensures they don’t feel alone in their situation. This can improve mood, allow them to socialize, and help them further understand what they’re going through. This also allows the family to take the time they need to work and take care of whatever they need.
Respite Care
During respite care, patients spend a short time in an inpatient hospice setting that allows their caregivers to take the time they need for a break. Nobody wants to think about needing a break from caring for your child, but caring for someone in hospice is an all-consuming amount of work regardless of how much love you have for the patient. It’s important that parents or caregivers get the break they need so they can care for their children as well as possible and avoid burnout. The children get to be in a comfortable facility, cared for by medical professionals that allow them to be comfortable and looked after.
Hospice Care Helps Everyone
The idea of having a child in hospice care can be devastating for a family, and caring for a child going through this stage isn’t easy. Seek help to take the pressure off of your shoulders, and know that you don’t have to go through this alone.
