The Caring Spirit of Hospice

As a registered nurse, I have never worked in the hospice arena. However, I do have experience with hospice.

Years ago, when my mother-in-law, Helen, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, I was a nurse's aide. Healthcare was new to me, but with a family member dying, I had a crash course. Hospice played a large part of Helen's last few months of life.

There comes a time when patients and families may have to decide when, or if, to stop treatment for cancer. Reaching this crossroads, we elected to care for my husband's mom in her own home, because that's where she wanted to die.

During her last few weeks of life, she did not know where she was or who her family was - but we could tell she was in pain. The nurses from hospice taught us a lot, the most important point being that Helen had a right to be free of pain and die with dignity.

A Place of Comfort
The demand for this special type of nurse is greater than ever before. More than one in four patients who die in America today have received hospice care.

According to the Hospice Foundation of America, more than 3,100 hospice programs exist in the United States, Puerto Rico and Guam. Data from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization shows hospices served approximately 885,000 patients in 2002.

Originally, the term hospice referred to a place of shelter and respite for weary or ill travelers, and the term can be traced back to medieval times. Dame Cicely Saunders, a physician, founded the first modern hospice in 1967 in a suburb of London. This was when the term hospice was first applied to specialized care for dying patients.

The first hospice in the United States was established in New Haven, CT, in 1974. Soon, a formal definition of the modality emerged from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization:

"Considered to be the model for quality, compassionate care for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury, hospice and palliative care involve a team-oriented approach to expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the patient's needs and wishes."