Advance Care Planning Promotes Hospice Growth

"Vantage Hospice in Houston saw substantial growth in its patient census during the COVID-19 pandemic, which the company in part attributes to a rising number of patients with advance care plans. Vantage is now calling for initiatives to make advance care planning a standard medical practice". 
"The company’s administrator Nicole Knight contends that expanding advance care planning would help bring patients under the wings of hospice earlier in the course of their illnesses".

When most people hear the words "Hospice", they tend to think dying is right around the corner.  This is simply not true.  What is true is that doctors and health professionals tend to mention hospice at the very end.  Thus by the time someone enters hospice, they are at the very last stages of dying.

However, if more people would start having Advance Care Planning conversations with their families and loved ones, it would most often make clear that most would want to have care that brings comfort and aid to the dying and their families.

“Advance care plans provide direction to physicians and loved ones in the midst of a medical crisis,” Knight said “So many patients could have had the opportunity to die comfortably at home instead of alone in the hospital if advance care plans were a standard practice.”

In addition, most people would prefer to die in the comfort of their home, surrounded by loved ones, all while being comforted and in limited pain.

"Advance care planning has been shown to have a significant impact on the quality and experience of life’s final stages, yet broaching these conversations with patients and families involves breaking down walls around end-of-life care. Advocates nationwide are calling for improved strategies to bring the conversation of death into a new light and shift the culture of dying in America".

Please seek out a professional, possibly a Death Doula, that can help to discover what is truly important when nearing the end of life, and what the wishes of the dying are.

The more knowledge we gain from having a necessary conversation, the more we feel in control and fear is lessened.

Advance Care Planning Promotes Hospice Growth