Health Watch: November is Hospice Month
November is hospice month, which is a service to care for terminally ill patients who don’t have much longer to live. The goal is to make those last months as enjoyable and comfortable for patients as possible. “Usually it’s for terminally ill patients who want to provide comfort measures for themselves instead of aggressive curative measures.” Hospice of West Tennessee wants to take that care to the next level and focus on more than just the patient. “Hospice of West Tennessee really understands the need of the caregiver and the family. There in this for the patient. It’s not just the patients doing this taking care of themselves. The family is very invested in what goes on, so we make sure the family is taken care of” They say their care is about making those last moments count. “We say, and I don’t know where this quote came from but we live it. We say we may not add days to your life but we can add life to your days.” And not focus on a life lost, but celebrate a live well lived. “We try not to present it in a sad way. We’re not about dying. We’re about living to the fullest and then as we live as death presents itself we are all ready for that at that particular time but we try to live to the fullest.”
