Denver has highest percentage of hospice patients
At the beginning of the 20th century the concept of a heart transplant was unthinkable until Dr. Christiaan Barnard in South Africa performed the first one. Such operations are commonplace nowadays. The thought of reattaching a severed limb using microsurgery would have been considered science-fiction before the technological advances in medicine of the 1960s.
Sometimes, though, patients do decide to allow whatever ailments they have to run their course, and die in the privacy and relative dignity of their home or a hospice, instead of the sterile institutional environment of a hospital.
A hospital’s doctors are intent on halting or reversing sickness and disease, this is their overriding goal and they do it well, but sometimes a patient chooses to have their symptoms relieved rather than treated, so their suffering is lessened while the sickness or ailment is allowed to run its course.
This way of thinking, and the treatment provided for it, which is called palliative care, has been around since the 17th century, and gave rise to literary legends such as Florence Nightingale.
It was made mainstream in the 1950’s, however, and millions of, predominantly elderly, patients in the US use the services of palliative care providers, such as hospices, towards the end of their lives. Denver is a city in the US with the highest percentage of people using the services of hospices, over 65% of patients 65 and older here turn to palliative care, in many cases using the services provided by The Denver Hospice, formerly Metro Denver Hospice.
“I think it's become recognized that hospice can provide a great deal more dignity and choice to patients by allowing them to die according to their wishes,” Bev Sloan, the chief executive of The Denver Hospice told Denver news provider, Denver Post.
The great difference with a hospice, according to many patients, is the degree of autonomy provided to them by the care givers. The patient has more control over their treatment, and because many hospices organizations The Denver Hospice included, offer in-house treatment, patients can pass away slowly and peacefully in their homes.
This is great draw of hospice care, which is covered by most private medical aides, as well as MediCare.
The Denver Hospice also offers additional services to family members. In many cases they train the family members of terminally ill patients in how to provide basic care, such as the administering of some medications, the preparation and connecting of IV lines, and changing of catheters. For many people, if this is done by a close family member, it provides more dignity than the professional detachment of a nurse or doctor.
This form of treatment opens a door for family members, especially children, to take care of ailing parents and be provided with the support network to do it. Just as parents make sacrifices to raise their children, many want to give back at the end of their parents lives.
“Dying isn't just a medical event,” says Sloan. “It's a very powerful and potent time, and I think hospice is attuned to that.”
According to the Denver Hospice they serve 9 counties in Colorado and treat around 900 patients each day. Many of their services are free, such as grief counseling, and they rely on volunteers for many of these services. More information can be had at: http://www.thedenverhospice.org/volunteer/Pages/applicationopportunities.aspx