Palliative Care and Hospice Explained: Choosing the Right Support
When someone you love faces a serious illness, terms like Palliative Care and Hospice Care may enter your world. Many families feel unclear about what each offers and which is the right option to support their unique situation and needs.
Both Hospice and Palliative Care provide comfort and support to families during challenging times, but their intent and goals differ significantly.
MorseLife Health System’s complete continuum of care means we offer both services with unparalleled compassion and expertise, ensuring families in Palm Beach
County receive personalized support that honors your wishes and evolves with your needs.
Learn what is Palliative Care vs Hospice Care to determine which option is best for you.
Is Palliative Care the same as Hospice?
Hospice Care and Palliative Care align in their goal to enrich and uphold the comfort and dignity of patients and their loved ones. They differ in timing and intent.
Palliative Care can begin any time a serious illness is diagnosed. It works collaboratively with curative treatments and medical interventions.
An example of Palliative Care in action is coordinating with oncologists to support the comfort needs of a person with advanced breast cancer undergoing radiation treatments. This might involve helping address nausea symptoms, providing heated blankets, or sourcing products to reduce skin blisters or dry mouth.
Hospice Care is appropriate when life expectancy is limited. Typically, it is given to an individual with a prognosis of six months or less. In contrast to Palliative Care and its use in conjunction with medical treatments, Hospice is entirely focused on comfort versus healing.
Understanding the differences between these options can transform your care planning and enhance the emotional well-being of your whole family as you navigate this process.
Let’s dig deeper, so you can get a clear picture of each approach.
What sets Palliative Care apart?
Palliative Care is a holistic, person-centered care approach, designed for people facing serious illnesses like cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s, kidney disease, and COPD.
Unlike Hospice, Palliative Care is available at any stage of an illness and can work in conjunction with curative treatments.
When should someone be offered Palliative Care?
Palliative Care services are appropriate to add to the mix when symptoms feel unmanageable, or life with a serious illness is overwhelming.
At MorseLife, our Palliative Care services can help you proactively face challenges with a compassionate interdisciplinary team, dedicated to supporting you and aligning with your care wishes and goals.
For Mr. Wright, Palliative Care at MorseLife helped him not only manage his pain from chronic MS but enhanced his overall quality of life in the process. “They help me in so many ways,” he shared, adding, “managing my pain, providing support if I feel down, just overall improving the quality of my life. They gave me back the spirit I’d lost.”
MorseLife’s Palliative Care is more than just exceptional, personalized care to support medical treatments. We focus on enriching quality of life and helping our patients reconnect with their sense of joy and meaning as they navigate this process.
Our innovative approach includes integrating music therapy into Palliative Care. This evidence-based approach eases pain and anxiety, while encouraging life review and emotional connection. Patients work with therapists to create personalized playlists and experiences, nurturing meaning and connection.
But how does Palliative Care work to support those with serious illnesses and their loved ones?
Palliative Care stages
Every Palliative Care journey is unique. MorseLife tailors our Palliative and Hospice Care services to the needs and wishes of each patient and family we serve.
Palliative Care provides personalized support as families navigate the phases of serious illness and treatment. Like Hospice, it can be offered wherever a patient resides, including at home, or in a Skilled Nursing, Memory Care, or Assisted Living community.
- In the early stages, we may support you with symptom management and quality of life, working alongside your medical team.
- We provide ongoing support and adjustment in the event an illness progresses or symptoms intensify or change.
- We’re on hand to offer rapid comfort measures to navigate any sudden shifts and to refine our approach to your emotional and practical support needs.
- If needed, we can facilitate a seamless transition to Hospice Care, ensuring everyone involved continues to receive the comprehensive, personalized support you deserve.
You don’t have to wait for a crisis to seek out Palliative Care support. MorseLife’s Palliative Care is here when you need us to help your family navigate complex illnesses with greater comfort and stability.
Hospice Care: Comfort when it matters most
Hospice care is designed for individuals with a life expectancy of six months or less, when curative treatments are no longer effective or desired. Hospice focuses entirely on comfort and support during the final stage of life.
Our approach to comprehensive, customized Hospice Care services is rooted in holistic relief. We offer round-the-clock nursing support, pain and medication management, personal care, spiritual and emotional support, and ongoing family bereavement counseling.
MorseLife’s Hospice Care services are brought directly to each patient, wherever they reside.
Our Hospice Care plans are built around each family’s goals, beliefs, and cultural values. Our compassionate team evolves with you, taking the time to listen and adjust to meet your goals and wishes, even as they evolve.
We also offer signature legacy programs, like our Cherishing Life’s Journey initiative. This innovative offering allows patients to create keepsakes, music timelines, or digital life stories to offer them comfort and joy and for their loved ones to treasure.
Our commitment to personalized, culture-sensitive care extends to all, honoring your family’s traditions and values at every stage.
Who pays for Palliative Care and Hospice?
Many families are relieved to learn that, in most cases, Hospice and Palliative Care services are covered under Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance plans.
Medicare’s Hospice Benefit provides full Hospice coverage for those 65 and over who qualify. Veterans benefits can also be used to cover Hospice and Palliative Care services.
We never want cost to be a barrier that prevents you from accessing the care you need when you need it. Our helpful community advisors and care coordinators will be happy to assist you in verifying coverage and completing necessary paperwork, so you can focus on what matters most: being together.
MorseLife: A leader in comprehensive, compassionate care
With over 42 years of unwavering service to our Palm Beach community and a full continuum of award-winning care, MorseLife is a trusted guardian of compassionate care.
Our values-based mission, innovative programs, and multidisciplinary approach offer families access to Hospice and Palliative Care services that prioritize dignity, empower choice, and surround each person with the comfort, respect, and support they deserve.
Whether you’re seeking relief from a serious illness or walking alongside a loved one at life’s end, MorseLife is here for you—every step of the way.
