Hospice at Home

Our Hospice at Home service has been compiled to bring care and support to those with life-limiting illness. The information below may not be complete, so please feel free to call or email us for more information.

Benefits of hopice home health care

Hospice at home focuses on the care, comfort, and quality of life of a person with a serious illness who is approaching the end of life. Hospice care provided at home allows that comfort and support to be delivered in someone’s home, retirement home, long term care facility, or hospital. 

Hospice at home provides comprehensive person-centred comfort care as well as support for the family. It is for those whose doctor believes he or she has six months or less to live if the illness runs its natural course.

The focus with hospice is caring, not curing. To relieve suffering and improve quality of life.

Hospice is an approach to care, so it is not tied to any one place. Hospice care can take place in the patient’s home, a nursing home or in a hospice care facility. Many people assume hospice is only called in the final moments of life. However, studies show that pain and symptom management is more effective when delivered earlier in the disease process.

Guardian Home Care is delivering hospice care wherever you call home, whether it be in your private home, a retirement residence, nursing home or hospital.

Families of people who received care through a hospice program are more satisfied with end-of-life care than those who did not have hospice services. Also, hospice recipients are more likely to have their pain controlled and less likely to undergo tests or be given medicines they don’t need, compared with people who do not use hospice.

1. Pain and symptom management

People living with a life-limiting illness may experience pain, causing concern among families who are worried and would like to relieve it. We work with clients and their families to find out what may be causing pain, and the appropriate ways to relieve it.

 2. Social, psychological, emotional and spiritual support

Hospice and palliative care recognizes the importance of a person’s physical and mental well-being, emphasizing our need to provide various supports to both the individual and their family.

3. Family and friend caregiver support

A common concern for caregivers and family members is whether or not they will be able to look after their loved one in the best way possible. In hospice care we see the importance of supporting the caregivers and family members, and provide the following service:

•  Advice and assistance from health care providers, and medical professionals who are skilled in providing end of life and palliative care.
•  Instruction on how to treat and care for the person, how to recognize the signs of when the person is close to death, and what to do when you spot those signs.
•  Support services that provide assistance with household tasks such as meal preparation and shopping.

Some components of hospice palliative care at home may be paid for by the Ontario provincial health plan as part of a home care program. Usually, OHIP allows only a certain number of hours of professional and home support services per week. After the hours are used up, Guardian Home Care can supply additional care.

 People may use private insurance or their own money to pay for palliative care services at home.  If you choose, Guardian Home Care and RCM Health can liaise with the Local Health Integrate Network (LHIN) to get you the maximum coverage supplied by the government, while we supply additional help that is needed.

 It is difficult to quote a cost for this care until we know your specific needs. A discovery call with Guardian Home Care and RCM Health will be needed to estimate costs.

As each situation differs, the following steps of the process may or may not apply. RCM Health and Guardian Home Care will work collaboratively to bring you the following:

1. Hold a discovery call with Guardian Home Care and RCM Health with the family, friends and the person of concern.
2. A review of the wishes of the person of concern to ensure that the wishes are complied with.
3. RCM Health will complete and assessment of current and evolving medical issues.
4. RCM Health will provide a review of nursing orders and medication orders.
5. RCM Health and Guardian Home Care will arrange for delivery to the home of medications and other important supplies.
6. Help to access provincially funded palliative care home care services.
7. Depending on the level of care needed, Guardian Home Care would supply in-home personal support workers and in-home nursing care.
8. Collaborating with any spiritual leaders associated with the family.
9. Establish a comforting environment which might include a selection of music and art and, possibly, arrange for a reader to read to the person of concern.
10. Reviewing the family history and legacy of the person of concern through storytelling.
11. RCM Health and your family can consider the use of experiential medications to ease anxiety at the end of life.
12. Communicating and collaborating with the family doctor, specialists, and other doctors in the community.
13. Being available 365 if there is a need for advice about completing and registering DNR forms, when to access 911 and how to manage the details once the person has passed.