Mission Statement
At Golden Valley Home Health, we know how good it feels to be at home. But, we also realize that going home after a hospitalization can be stressful. That's why we pay special attention to making sure you have the support you need to make a successful transition from hospital to home. Golden Valley Home Health staff works closely with your physician to develop a care plan that meets your individual medical and personal needs. We help you get back on track when returning home.
As a developing hospice we are at this time building our mission statement. We do adhere to several principles of end-of-life care including:
Core Principles for End-of-Life Care
1. Respecting the dignity of both patient and caregivers;
2. Be sensitive to and respectful of the patient's and family's wishes;
3. Use the most appropriate measures that are consistent with patient choices;
4. Encompass alleviation of pain and other physical symptoms;
5. Assess and manage psychological, social and spiritual/religious problems;
6. Offer continuity (the patient should be able to continue to be cared for, if so desired, by his/her primary care and specialist providers);
7. Provide access to any therapy which may realistically be expected to improve the patient's quality of life, including alternative or non- traditional treatments;
8. Provide access to palliative and hospice care;
9. Respect the right to refuse treatment;
10. Respect the physician's professional responsibility to discontinue some treatments when appropriate, with consideration for both the patient, and family's preferences;
11. Promote clinical and evidence-based research on providing care at the end of life.
Description
What is Hospice?
Considered to be the model for quality, compassionate care for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury, hospice care involves a team-oriented approach to expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the patient's needs and wishes. Support is provided to the patient's loved ones as well. At the center of hospice and palliative care is the belief that each of us has the right to die pain-free and with dignity, and that our families will receive the necessary support to allow us to do so.
Hospice focuses on caring, not curing and in most cases care is provided in the patient's home. Hospice care also is provided in freestanding hospice centers, hospitals, and nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Hospice services are available to patients of any age, religion, race, or illness. Hospice care is covered under Medicare, Medicaid, most private insurance plans, HMOs, and other managed care organizations.
How does hospice care work? Typically, a family member serves as the primary caregiver and, when appropriate, helps make decisions for the terminally ill individual. Members of the hospice staff make regular visits to assess the patient and provide additional care or other services. Hospice staff is on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The hospice team develops a care plan that meets each patient's individual needs for pain management and symptom control. The team usually consists of:
The patient' s personal physician;
Hospice physician (or medical director);
Nurses;
Home health aides;
Social workers;
Clergy or other counselors
Trained volunteers; and
Speech, physical, and occupational therapists, if needed.
What services are provided? Among its major responsibilities, the interdisciplinary hospice team:
Manages the patient’s pain and symptoms;
Assists the patient with the emotional and psychosocial and spiritual aspects of dying;
Provides needed drugs, medical supplies, and equipment;
Coaches the family on how to care for the patient;
Delivers special services like speech and physical therapy when needed;
Makes short-term inpatient care available when pain or symptoms become too difficult to manage at home, or the caregiver needs respite time; and
Provides bereavement care and counseling to surviving family and friends.
