COMMUNITY SERVICES

 

Respite Care For Our Patients

At Illuminate Hospice we understand the struggle of looking after a sick or disabled family member 24-hours of the day seven days a week. A break is needed from time to time to look after your own needs. We believe it takes a community and that’s where respite care can help. Respite care is a fancy name for giving a short-term break to the primary caregiver. Your break can be as long as 5 days. Respite care can take place:

  • In Skilled Residential Facilities offering overnight stays

In Home Hospice

We understand the importance of proper end-of-life care for our patients and their families. This is why we believe that in-home hospice is one of many great options for those in need.

An in-home hospice provides a comfortable, familiar setting for our patients. Whether at home or via our contracted facility, your loved one will receive the best expert care. Our experienced skilled nurses have dedicated their careers to caring for terminally ill patients and the end of life transition.

In-house hospice also provides convenience for your loved ones. Traveling can become extremely difficult and unpleasant as your loved one nears the end of life. With in-home hospice care, all of the professionals your loved one needs come right to his or her bedside to provide the required compassionate care at this time.

We Believe in Mental and Physical Help

Many people envision nurses and aides providing physical care they think of checking vital signs, administering medication, and bathing patients. While those actions are essential, most people forget that hospice care also provides emotional, mental as well as physical support for the patient as a whole. Meaning at Illuminate Hospice giving equal attention to the emotional and spiritual needs of our patients is as equally important as meeting their physical needs.

Emotional Care for Our Patients

Understandably, patients may suffer from depressions, anxiety, and anger about their situations. In addition to those emotions, patients may review their lives, and may find regrets over things they have said or done – or things they never got to say or do.  These emotions can quickly diminish a patient’s quality of life. This is why we at Illuminate Hospice provide social workers to offer emotional care – working with our patients, listening to their stories, and addressing their many concerns.

Bereavement Counseling

Bereavement is the process of grieving and letting go of a loved one who has died. Bereavement is the state of loss when someone close to you has died. A full and range of emotions may be experienced after a loss. There can be five stages of grief and may not occur in a specific order and at times may occur together. Not everyone experiences these emotions:

  • Denial, disbelief, numbness – The shock and disbelief can help numb the pain but also not allow you to come to terms with it yet.

  • Anger, blame – The pain takes hold, and you may feel betrayed or angry at some person of force, blaming them for your loss, and taking out your frustrations out with feelings of “why me”? “Why now”?

  • Bargaining – The feeling that you would do anything, whatever it takes, to have that person back, and to not feel the grief and loss you feel.

  • Depressed mood, sadness, and crying – Profound sadness that follows the realization that the loss truly happened. The depths of sorrows in many cases are an inevitable part of the grieving process.

Acceptance, coming to terms – This is the first stage of moving on, as the depressions lift. Dealing with the reality and adjust to the changes, looking forward to the future and making new plans.

Bereavement counseling is assistance, advice or support from specialist, charities, or groups – emotionally, socially, and spiritually – to help families cope with pain, grief, and adjusting to their loss of a family member. With bereavement counseling patients and their families may have a better chance of finding peace of mind.  

Spiritual Care for Our Patients

In addition to emotional concerns, many patients experience spiritual matters. The patient may have questions or concerns about their faith or worry about the impact of the decisions they have made in their lives. At Illuminate Hospice we offer Chaplain services to provide solace and address any spiritual concerns.

Physical Care for Our Patients

While most hospices do not offer physical therapy, we believe that physical therapy plays an integral role in supporting the physical and emotional well-being of the patient as it reduces pain and increases mobility. Physical therapist treats common functional disabilities such as deconditioning, pain, imbalance, therapeutic exercises, and localized weakness. We at Illuminate Hospice understand that there is no “one size fits all” approach to physical therapy and rehabilitation. Functional task addressed by the physical therapist are but are not limited to:

  • Bed mobility – Rolling, positioning for comfort and pressure relief, bridging (lifting the pelvis off of the bed), amongst other things.

  • Transfers – Set up ( positioning of the wheelchair in relation to the bed), sit to stand, pivot or slide and stand to sit.

  • Ambulation or gait – Gait assessments, assistive device placement, and foot placement.

Continuous care

For uncontrolled symptoms, we offer continuous care hours where we will have a health care professionals stay with our client in rotating shifts to help monitor and manage out of normal symptoms. Our staff will closely monitor and document any changes at this time and will keep in close contact with our support team should the need arise for an adjustment in the current plan of care.