What is Hospice?

Hospice care is not giving up. Choosing hospice care for you or your loved one is a positive step in affirming the value of life. With the expert emotional and spiritual support available through hospice, you and your family can focus on enjoying your time together.

Hospice is a philosophy of care for adults and children designed to treat the patient, not the disease. For patients diagnosed with a life-limiting illness and a life expectancy of fewer than six months, hospice care focuses on pain and symptom management as well as emotional and spiritual support for your entire family.

At Community Healthcare of Texas, we provide choices, comfort, and support from a team of experts committed to enhancing your quality of life wherever you call home, whether a private residence, an assisted living facility, a nursing home, or one of our inpatient hospice houses.

The Community Healthcare of Texas hospice care team will develop a plan to meet the unique needs of you and your family. Medications, medical equipment, and medical supplies are provided to manage your illness. Our hospice program includes four levels of care, and we offer care and support while keeping you comfortable by providing you and your loved ones with the following: 

Education

Community Healthcare of Texas believes that preparing you and your family for the changes that occur at the end of life is important. Your hospice team will provide education and support as needed for the following:

  • Preparation for physical changes that occur
  • Tips and advice for comfort care
  • How to cope spiritually and emotionally while caring for your loved ones

Emotional and Spiritual Support

Our team of Nurses, Chaplains, Social Workers, and Physicians is always available to respond to your needs. Depending on where each person is on their journey, the hospice team helps with the following:

  • Isolation
  • Fear 
  • Loss of Hope
  • Feeling Overwhelmed 
  • Sadness
  • Guilt
  • Anger

Caregiver Support

  • Assist in communicating with the physician and other healthcare professionals to ensure your loved one’s wishes are fulfilled
  • Coordinate care and social services to enable you to provide care at home
  • Teach comfort care techniques
  • Provide a volunteer to stay with your loved one to give you time away
  • Offer on-call nursing support 24 hours a day to answer questions and responds to emergencies

Additional Services Include:

  • Medications related to illness
  • Medical supplies and equipment
  • Physicians
  • Nursing care
  • Certified Nursing Aides
  • Pastoral counseling
  • Dietary counseling
  • Physical, speech, and occupational therapy
  • Social services
  • Bereavement and grief support
  • Volunteer services
  • Light housekeeping inpatient care area
  • Patient meal preparation

Signs It May Be Time for Hospice

  • Frequent trips to the emergency room or a recent hospitalization
  • Decreased appetite and weight loss
  • Increased weakness or falls
  • Requires more help with everyday activities
  • Multiple changes and adjustments to medications or an increase in medications needed to control symptoms
  • Increased skin breakdown and difficulty managing wounds
  • Increased shortness of breath or need for oxygen most of the time
  • Uncontrolled pain or increase in symptoms

A diagnosis of a life-limiting illness may leave you feeling overwhelmed. Community Healthcare of Texas is your partner in navigating the many options available for you and your family. Call us today at (800)958.4942.