About
HOSPICE SERVICE

 

 
 
 
 
 
 


Hospice Concept

Hospice care is provided through an interdisciplinary, medically directed team. This team approach to care fordying persons typically includes a physician, a nurse, a home health aide, a social worker, a chaplain and a volunteer.

The hospice nurse makes regularly scheduled visits to the patient providing expert pain management and symptom control techniques. Throughout the time that the patient is under the care of hospice, the nurse keeps the primary physician informed of the patient's condition.

Nurses provide the complete spectrum of skilled nursing care and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Home health aides provide assistance with the personal care of the patient.

Social workers provide assistance with practical and financial concerns as well as emotional support, counseling and bereavement follow-up. They evaluate the need for volunteers and other support services needed by the family and facilitate communication between the family and community agencies.

Chaplains provide spiritual support to patients and families, often serving as a liaison between them and their religious community. Chaplains often assist with memorial services and funeral arrangements.

Avalon Hospice & Palliative Care is currently located in San Diego, California. People in need of Hospice care in San Diego County, as well as the surrounding community will be served faithfully in their homes, skilled nursing facilities, as well as board and care facilities.



The Care Giving Team
Attending Physician
  • Certifies the terminal prognosis
  • Assesses patient needs, manages symptoms,
    prescribes treatment
  • Directs & approves the plan of care
  • Coordinates care with the Interdisciplinary
    Team (IDT)

Medical Director

  • Co-certifies the terminal prognosis with the
    attending physician
  • Leads the Interdisciplinary Team in the
    development of a plan of care
  • Provides consultation to other physicians
    regarding hospice care

Registered Nurse

  • Assesses patient & family needs
  • Develops a plan of care to meet identified needs
  • Coordinates team visits & ensures
    implementation of approved plan of care
  • Coordinates care with attending physician,
    primary care giver and/or Care Center staff
  • Ensures symptom control & pain management
  • Provides patient/family teaching as needed

Social Worker

  • Assesses patient & family emotional, social,
    spiritual & financial needs
  • Develops a plan of care to meet identified
    needs
  • Provides direct counseling or refers patients &
    families to appropriate community agencies
  • Provides bereavement support

Chaplain

  • Assesses patient & family spiritual needs
  • Develops a plan of care to meet identified needs
  • Provides direct counseling
  • Assists with memorial preparations
  • Provides consultations to community clergy

Home Health Aide

  • Provides direct personal care to patient
  • Provides comfort measures, reports identified
    needs to RN Case Manager
  • Provides emotional support to patient & family

Volunteers

  • Provides companionship & support to patient & family
  • Provides needed non-medical services, such as
    letter writing, errands, & respite time for family
  • Provides support at time of death & during bereavement

Therapist - if appropriate  

The Speech-Language Pathologist

  • Identifies equipment needs relative to speech/language function
  • Identifies functional speech defects and establishes goals and plan of care to improve patient's function
  • Recommends communication devices/aids as indicated

The Occupational Therapist

  • Assesses patient's functional status (muscle function, endur-ance, visual coordination, written and verbal communication skills, self care ability, work capacity, etc.)
  • Evaluates home environment for hazards or barriers to more independent living

The Registered Dietician

  • Assesses patient's nutritional needs
  • Provides patients & family members with nutritional education
  • Implements a nutritional program which will assist in meeting the patient's nutritional needs

The Physical Therapist

  • Assess for muscle strength, mobility, gait, ROM and transfer capabilities. Less a goal of rehab, more a focus on maintaining comfort
  • Directing physical therapy treatment
  • Instructing patients and families/caregivers in the use and care of therapeutic appliances

Services

24 Hour On-Call Skilled Nurses
We provide nursing when the patient needs it most. An RN is on-call 24 hours a day and can be reached by dialing 858-751-0315.

Pain Control
Our major priority is patient care! Palliative care for pain control, comfort and symptom management is provided, as needed.

Counseling & Bereavement
Social Services provides counseling and makes appropriate community referrals. Spiritual services to provide direct counseling and assist with memorial preparations.

Medications & Medical Equipment
We provide medications, medical equipment, and supplies that are related to the terminal diagnosis.

Philosophy

Hospice, as an option in the medical care system, exists not to postpone death, but, with special skills and therapies, to help the patient and family live as fully as possible. Death is not denied, but life is affirmed and lived until that transition takes place.

Dying is a universal fact of life and, whether or not it is accompanied by disease, this transition is a normal process. We believe that every person is entitled to participate fully in this part of life in order to prepare for death in a way that is personally satisfactory.

Patients are viewed individually, considering all aspects of the illness and its effects on the patient and their family and loved ones. The over-riding aims are the relief of suffering and the achievement of a peaceful death, free from physical and emotional distress.
The patient and the family are seen as a unit of care, with support to the family continuing into the bereavement period.

To achieve our aims, we will pursue the objectives which form the basis of our service.
We believe that we are all dependent on one another therefore, it is crucial, in the last few months of life, to help develop a caring community that can provide comprehensive services to patients and their families.

 

Four Levels of Care

The four levels of Care defined by Medicare Hospice Benefit are routine homecare, continuous home care, inpatient respite care and general inpatient Care.

Routine Home Care is the basic care provided by the hospice in the patient's home. For the purposes of the hospice benefit, the patient's home may include an adult congregate living facility or a long-term care facility that allows patients with needs that cannot be met in a private residence access to hospice services. (The cost of room and board for adult congregate living or long-term care facility care is not covered by the hospice.) Covered by medical/private insurance.

Continuous Home Care may be indicated during a period of crisis in the home, typically with the emergence of uncontrolled symptoms that require more intensive and continuous nursing care than generally provided under routine home care and when the patient desires to remain at home. The care must be primarily, but not exclusively, nursing.

Inpatient Respite Care is most commonly used when it is determined that the patient's caregivers would benefit from some respite from the day-to-day care they provide at home. The respite level of care may not be billed for in excess of 5 consecutive days at any one time.

General Inpatient Care is an option to provide patients access to general inpatient care for the management of pain and other symptoms that cannot be managed at home.


Signing up for hospice

Often, patients and their families are referred to hospice by a physician or other medical professional (nursinghome, hospital discharge planner, etc.). But in other cases, the patients and families can contact the hospice directly to determine whether this care is the right answer for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. If after learning more about hospice, you believe that you or your loved one might be eligible, here are the steps you can take to elect the hospice benefit:

1. Call 1-858-751-0315 Avalon Hospice & Palliative Care.

2. Avalon Hospice & Palliative Care representative will explain more about the services offered, asksome health-related questions to begin assessing eligibility, and answer any initial questions you might have.

3. If the patient lives within the Avalon Hospice & Palliative Care service area and eligibility appears to be indicated, an appointment will be scheduled for a member of the Avalon Hospice & Palliative Care team to visit wherever the patient calls home for a more thorough eligibility review.

4. If this in-person review continues to indicate eligibility, the Avalon Hospice & Palliative Care team member will answer any of your questions and walk the patient step-by-step through the process of electing the hospice benefit. Avalon Hospice & Palliative Care also will coordinate the hospice certification process with your personal physician, if necessary.
A registered nurse will then visit the patient to conduct a more detailed assessment and will begin to develop an individualized plan of care in conjunction with the patient, the family, and the entire interdisciplinary care team. The nurse will also coordinate care with the patient's attending physician, if applicable.