National Hospice and Palliative Care Month

Hospice of the North Coast and Pacifica House strive to be the model for quality, compassion and innovative care. Always remembering each patient and family member are treated as unique individuals. As we enter national hospice month we want to recommit ourselves to these proclamations. Believing at the center of hospice and palliative care, that each of us has the right to die pain-free and with dignity and by supporting our families we will be allowed to do so.

PROCLAMATION

National Hospice and Palliative Care Month – November 2016

(Alexandria, VA) – In recognition of National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, NHPCO has issued the following proclamation calling for increased awareness about advance care planning.

WHEREAS, all people are encouraged to learn about options for care – options like hospice and palliative care – before they are confronted with a healthcare crisis and to share such wishes through appropriate advance care planning activities;

WHEREAS, hospice and palliative care empower people to live as fully as possible, surrounded and supported by family and loved ones, despite serious and life-limiting illness;

WHEREAS,  hospice and palliative care bring patients and family caregivers the highest quality care delivered by an interdisciplinary team of skilled professionals that includes physicians, nurses, social workers, therapists, counselors, health aides, spiritual care providers and others who make the wishes of each patient and family a priority;

WHEREAS, advance care planning involves making decisions about the healthcare an individual would want to receive if he or she were facing a serious or life-limiting illness or if they were unable to speak for themselves;

WHEREAS, through pain management and symptom control, caregiver training and assistance, and emotional and spiritual support, allowing patients to live fully up until the final moments, surrounded and supported by the faces of loved ones, friends, and committed caregivers, hospice and palliative care focus on quality of living;

WHEREAS, Each year, hospice saves Medicare more than $2 billion by providing solutions for physicians, care to patients and comfort to families anywhere, at any time.

WHEREAS, every year more than 1.65 million Americans living with life-limiting illness, and their families, received care from the nation’s hospice programs in communities throughout the United States;

WHEREAS, more than 430,000 trained volunteers contribute 19 million hours of service to hospice program annually;

WHEREAS, hospice and palliative care providers encourage all people to learn more about options of care and to share their wishes with family, loved ones, and their healthcare professionals;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved, by virtue of the authority vested in the Board of Directors of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, we do hereby proclaim November 2016 as National Hospice and Palliative Care Month and encourage citizens to increase their understanding and awareness of care at the end of life and to observe this month with appropriate activities and programs.