Whenever I talk about VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® the conversation always comes back to people.
The palliative care experts who make up our South Florida interdisciplinary teams are highly skilled caregivers, but they are also compassionate and sensitive to individual patient and family needs. And they’re available 24/7. Each remarkable team includes:
• A VITAS physician—who works with the attending physician and is available for pain and symptom management consultation or house calls, as needed.
• VITAS nurses—who are skilled in assessing and managing pain and providing hands-on care.
• VITAS social workers—who are sympathetic listeners providing emotional support and help with financial issues and planning.
• VITAS hospice aides—who help with personal care, such as bathing or dental and mouth care, and with light housekeeping, light laundry and occasional shopping.
• A VITAS chaplain—who works with the family’s clergy, offering spiritual support.
• VITAS volunteers—who are specially trained the VITAS way to spend time with the patient when they are needed most.
• VITAS bereavement specialists—who provide grief and loss counseling, memorial services and other support for family and friends after the patient has died.
What do you get when you mix this kind of compassion with clinical innovation and leadership? At VITAS, you get caregivers who bring a daughter’s wedding ceremony to a mother’s bedside. You get immediate team reaction to breakthrough pain early on a Sunday morning. You get arrangements for a family pet to stay in an inpatient unit. You get quiet, unhurried goodbyes for the family of a dying patient who is awake and comfortable.
VITAS brings the best hospice care in the country to more than 12,000 patients per day in 15 states and Washington, D.C. We do that with almost 10,000 employees who are committed to their jobs—whether they are at the bedside, on the sidelines or in the back office.
All 45 of our hospice programs tailor their staff and services to the communities they serve and bring skilled, compassionate care to their patients’ bedsides. From its three programs in South Florida, VITAS cares for patients nearing the end of life and their families in patients’ homes, whether the home is a private residence, an assisted living community or a skilled nursing facility, or at our 11 inpatient hospice units throughout the area.
VITAS’ substantial size and geographic reach benefit many—the patients and families it serves, its dedicated staff and the hospice field in general. Because of our size, we have access to state-of-the-art technology for patient care. We also have the best caregivers, who go through a careful selection process and extensive training. In fact, nationwide, many of our clinicians specialize in and/or are certified in hospice and palliative medicine, thus creating a generous base of knowledge and expertise that is available to all VITAS employees. We also have partnerships with hospitals and other healthcare organizations, state-of-the-art inpatient hospice units, an in-house home medical equipment service, and a strong pharmacy program.
On the technology front, VITAS has developed a sophisticated electronic health record (EHR) solution to bring the best hospice care in the country to people who are terminally ill.
VITAS Telecare support ensures that patients and families have 24-hour direct access to experienced hospice staff—nights, weekends, holidays, every day. Just a phone call away, these professionals can be a reassuring voice at 3 a.m., but they also can assess, advise and dispatch clinicians in moments, if needed.
When there is a crisis or a spike in symptoms, VITAS Intensive Comfort Care® staff offer up to 24 hours per day of medical management in the patient’s home, where most people hope to remain at the end of life.
VITAS is a national company, but each program is part of the local community. At VITAS in South Florida, our hospice professionals are from right here so they know the people and the neighborhoods. We’re here to ensure that anyone who wants hospice care can get the best quality hospice care.
