What Is Hospice?

Throughout  history friends and family generally cared for people at the end of their lives at home. 

In  modern times, as medical treatments dramatically improved, most people spend their  final days in a hospital or nursing home.  Unfortunately this means that many patients

• Are separated from their families and loved ones 
• Experience feelings of isolation which is ironically  accompanied by a lack personal privacy
• Receive aggressive or other unwanted treatment after it is no  longer effective, and
• Experience unnecessary pain and suffering due to inadequate  pain management.

Hospice was designed as an alternative to end-of-life  hospital care. Hospice allows patients greater control over their own care,  while remaining in the comfort of home (or a home-like setting), surrounded by  family, friends, their belongings, pets and loved ones. 

In 1974, the first hospice program was established in the United States.  There are currently about 3,000 hospice  programs in the U.S. 

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