Home Health Care
Avita’s home health care services offer vital support and care for cancer patients and their families, enabling them to remain comfortable and safe in their own homes while managing their illness and treatment. This can be particularly beneficial for those recovering from treatment, managing side effects, or seeking support for activities of daily living.
Types of Home Health Care Services
Home health care for cancer patients can be tailored to individual needs and may include:
- Skilled nursing care: Registered nurses (RNs) can provide medical care like wound care, medication administration (including IV treatments), and monitoring vital signs and side effects.
- Therapies: Physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists can help with rehabilitation, improving mobility, and regaining independence.
- Personal care: Home health aides can assist with activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, and getting around.
- Emotional and social support: Social workers can provide counseling and connect patients and families with community resources, including financial assistance.
Benefits of Home Health Care for Cancer Patients
- Comfort and familiarity: Patients can receive care in the comfort of their own home, which can reduce stress and promote a sense of well-being.
- Personalized care: Care plans are tailored to the specific needs and preferences of each patient.
- Reduced hospital visits: Home care can minimize the need for frequent trips to the hospital.
Enhanced quality of life: Home care can help patients manage symptoms, maintain independence, and improve their overall well-being.
Hospice Care
Hospice care is a specialized type of care that offers comfort and support to individuals with a life-limiting illness, such as advanced cancer, when curative treatments are no longer effective or desired. It focuses on enhancing the quality of life and allows individuals to live as fully and comfortably as possible during their final stages of life. Hospice care is available to patients of any age, religion, race, or illness.
- Focus on Comfort and Support: Hospice care prioritizes managing symptoms and distress, ensuring physical comfort, and providing emotional and spiritual support to both patients and their families.
- Quality of Life: It aims to improve a patient’s quality of life during the final months, weeks, or days of life.
- Not Giving Up: Hospice care is not about giving up on life or hope, but about shifting the focus to maximizing comfort and living life to the fullest.
- Where Care is Provided: Hospice care is often provided in the patient’s home, but it can also be delivered in hospitals, nursing homes, or dedicated hospice facilities.
Who Can Benefit from Hospice Care?
- Individuals with advanced cancer who are expected to live for six months or less, and for whom curative treatment is no longer effective or desired.
- Patients who are experiencing uncontrollable symptoms, such as pain or difficulty breathing.
Services Provided by Hospice
- Pain and Symptom Management: Expertise in controlling pain and managing other distressing symptoms, like nausea or shortness of breath.
- Emotional and Spiritual Support: Guidance and counseling for patients and families facing the emotional and spiritual challenges associated with a terminal illness.
- Medications and Equipment: Provision of necessary medications, medical supplies, and equipment related to the illness.
- Caregiver Education and Support: Training and support for family caregivers on how to care for their loved one.
- Respite Care: Short-term inpatient care to provide temporary relief for caregivers.
- Bereavement Care: Support and counseling for families after the patient’s death.
- 24/7 Support: Access to a hospice team by phone, day or night.
Key Considerations for Hospice Care
- Eligibility: To be eligible for hospice benefits, a patient must typically have a life expectancy of six months or less.
- Hospice vs. Palliative Care: While hospice care often includes palliative care, palliative care can be provided at any time during a serious illness, even alongside curative treatments.
- Financial Coverage: Hospice care is often covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and most private insurance plans.
Palliative Care
The primary goal of palliative care is to relieve suffering and provide the best possible quality of life by focusing on managing physical, emotional, and practical challenges. This can include:
- Symptom Management: Expert care to address symptoms like pain, nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, constipation, difficulty sleeping, and anxiety.
- Emotional and Spiritual Support: Guidance and counseling to help you and your family cope with the emotional and psychological toll of cancer, along with spiritual support based on your beliefs.
- Practical Assistance: Support with practical needs such as financial concerns, legal matters, employment issues, and navigating the complexities of medical forms.
- Improved Communication and Decision-Making: Facilitating open conversations about your condition, treatment options, and personal goals of care, empowering you to make informed decisions.
Palliative care is NOT the same as hospice care. While both aim to improve quality of life and provide comfort, hospice care is specifically for those with a terminal illness where curative treatments are no longer the focus. Palliative care, however, can be received at any point during your cancer journey, alongside active treatment, and may even help you better tolerate therapies like chemotherapy or radiation.
Who Provides Palliative Care?
Our palliative care services are provided by a multidisciplinary team of specially trained professionals who work in conjunction with your existing healthcare team. The team may include doctors, nurses, social workers, and dietitians, all working together to create a personalized care plan based on your unique needs and preferences.