Referral and Admission
If a friend or family member is suffering with an incurable illness and lives within our service area, and you would like us to contact them about the daily-life benefits of Hospice care, please let us know by going to our initial referral page. Anyone may initiate a referral to Hospice care, but Hospice of Hope can accept only patients who have been certified by their physician to have an incurable illness which, in the physician's clinical judgment, is likely to end the patient's life within the next six months if the illness runs its normal course.

Our Admission Team consists of a Registered Nurse, Admission Coordinator and Social Worker. This team will contact the patient and/or family and arrange for an appointment. At that time the condition of the patient will be assessed by the Admission Nurse and complete information about Hospice services and Patient and Family Rights and Responsibilities will be discussed. If the patient and/or family is comfortable with the goals of palliative care that Hospice of Hope provides, papers will be signed and Hospice services begin. Any immediate medical needs will be addressed and prescriptions reviewed and updated.

Your Hospice Team
Hospice of Hope will assign an "Interdisciplinary Team" consisting of your Hospice Primary Nurse, a Social Worker and a Chaplain. Their names will be given to you on a card you can put on your refrigerator or other convenient location. You should receive your first nursing visit within one week, and will have nursing visits thereafter based on your individualized plan of care. Your Social Worker and Chaplain will be making their initial visit within 10 days of admission and regular visits thereafter based on assessment of needs and your hospice plan of care. All three team members are available to assist you as the need arises. In addition to these three, your plan of care may also include the services of a Certified Nursing Assistant, who may visit for an hour or so per day, from 1-7 days a week. Please don't hesitate to call Hospice of Hope to talk to any member of your team.

On-Call Services
Hospice services are available to you on an around-the-clock basis. After regular hours, our On-Call Team will be on duty to assist you should you have any sort of emergency or crisis after hours. Don't be shy about calling if you have a question or if the medical situation of the patient changes. In some instances the On-Call nurse will be able to assess the situation from what you can tell her, and she will be able to advise you over the phone. If a nursing visit is indicated, the On-Call nurse will make a visit to the patient and offer the best palliative care options available.

Certification and Recertification
Patients are assessed and reassessed on a regular basis to determine if Hospice services continue to be the best option. If a patient's condition improves significantly, or if patient condition does not decline as anticipated, hospice services may no longer be the best option for patient care. At the beginning of the next "benefit period", the patient might be referred by hospice back to their primary care physician for other treatment options. If at a later date the patient's condition again declines, the physician can again refer him or her to Hospice care.