The Future of Hospice?

We've had some inspirational hospice stories in the last couple of weeks and one heartbreaker involving some unpleasant family dynamics. All in all, I can say "I love hospice."

I remember the day we admitted my mom to Hospice Care of the Southwest's program. A weight lifted off my shoulders that day, simply because I had a team of professionals helping me make decisions about Mom's care. She was in their program for a little over 5 months. She greeted her maker in comfort, fresh, clean and perfumed thanks to her hospice aide. Since "cleanliness is next to Godliness" that was important to her and therefore to me.

I would recommend hospice care to any and all especially since revealing data has surfaced. A study by Duke University discussed the efficency, cost effectiveness and the fact that hospice patients live an average of 30 days longer than non-hospice patients. That's no surprise to me since I saw first hand how quickly a hospice team can respond to a change in a patient's condition and turn a possible life threatening condition around. For more information about the Duke University study see hospice http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/11/hospice.html

I sure hope all the "experts" in Washington who are deciding the future of our healthcare keep these things in mind. Hospice care, like independent pharmacies are good for our country and cost effective too.