Mrs. Garcia’s daughter, Della,” was crying. Mrs. Garcia had been recently diagnosed with end-stage dementia, she was racked with pain from arthritis, she was lethargic, not saying anything, staring off into space. Della was overwhelmed, trying to figure out how she was going to approach the task of taking care of her mother.
Mrs. Garcia’s doctor made the suggestion to place her under hospice care. Now Della was really frightened: not only was her mother sick, she was dying. After all, isn’t that what hospice is? A place where we put people to die? She had visions of sterile rooms, tubes, and harried, impersonal staff.
But today Della is thankful for hospice. “You have given me hope,” she stated to the chaplain. Her mother is at home, and although she does not make sense, she is speaking again. She is pain free, comfortable and content.
Common sense dictates the knowledge to us that we are all going to die one day. On this we do not have a choice; however, we do have control over the process. People are generally not afraid of death itself, but they are afraid of the dying process: namely, they are afraid of being in pain. They are afraid of being a burden to their loved ones and that their loved ones will suffer through having to see them writhing and moaning in agony.
There is a cynicism about healthcare at the time of death. The reigning belief is that families and doctors will seek life-saving measures no matter what the cost. However, it needs to be noted that money is not necessarily the motivation for doctors to seek aggressive treatment even when it is apparent that a patient is terminal. There is a pervasive attitude in the medical community that death is a failure, a sentiment often mirrored by society. Death is a part of life. For those of religious and spiritual persuasions, death is but a small part of the journey of life.
Dying does not have to be traumatic. There is a way for patients to decide where to die peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, with medical help and spiritual assistance. It is the Hospice Model of Healthcare. Once a medical professional has deemed a patient hospice appropriate and the patient agrees to receive services, a team of people begin visiting wherever the patient calls home: an Assisted Living Facility, a nursing home, or the patient’s homes, for many people prefer to be among familiar surroundings.
Hospice is more than doctors: the team is interdisciplinary, consisting also of nurses, hospice aides, bereavement counselors, social workers and chaplains. Hospice seeks to take care of the whole patient, not just a set of symptoms. The doctors and nurses provide the medical care; hospice aides assist patients in the activities of daily living, such as bathing and dressing; bereavement counselors help patients and their families through the grief process; chaplains see to the spiritual needs, providing sacraments, scripture, prayer, and pastoral counseling, as well as assuring that the patient’s priest, pastor, rabbi or imam is in contact; social workers assist with nursing home placement, if necessary; the transition from hospital to home, find ways for a patient’s children to be cared for after the patient passes away, may assist in taking care of funeral arrangements and a host of other practical matters; volunteers provide companionship, conversing with patients, reading to them, playing cards and board games with them. There are even programs where a patients last wish are honored, such as bringing a child home from the military to visit one last time, or even eating out at a favorite restaurant.
The hospice model is the most humane way to allow patients to die with dignity, grace and most of all, comfort. Hospice is covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most insurance policies with little or no cost to patients. At Catholic Hospice, no one is turned away for an inability to pay. Several fundraisers are held during the year to raise money to cover the necessary expenses, to ensure that everyone needing care gets it.
Mrs. Garcia’s daughter, Della,” was crying. Mrs. Garcia had been recently diagnosed with end-stage dementia, she was racked with pain from arthritis, she was lethargic, not saying anything, staring off into space. Della was overwhelmed, trying to figure out how she was going to approach the task of taking care of her mother. 
