DYING: A Book of Comfort

Companion website about dying, bereavement, loss, grief — and aging with spirit

Hospice care and palliative care

I've written about my own experience with hospice in my book DYING: A BOOK OF COMFORT. When my father died, my family and I were able to help him do so with the help of a wonderful hospice in Southern California. When my mother died, at the home of my brother and his wife, they too -- Mom and Steve and Sue -- were able to get through a difficult death chiefly because a Utah hospice helped them deal with practical, emotional, and spiritual issues. I expect there are inadequate hospices somewhere, but that has not been my experience.

People often wait too long to call about hospice. What hospices know how to do is alleviate pain and suffering. As soon as pain is an issue, look into the option of hospice care or palliative care. Most of it is done in the home, with hospice volunteers helping families cope. If you aren't sure that that someone is dying, let hospice experts and your physician help you figure things out. Don't wait too long -- because what they are good at is helping people feel comfortable, and most professionals in the regular health care system are not nearly so good at that. Palliative care serves an important function.

Following are links to some resources. To find a good hospice near you, ask friends if they know of a good local hospice; ask the social workers at your local hospital for a referral; check the yellow pages under Hospices; ask for referrals through the local American Cancer Society, an Agency on Aging, Visiting Nurse Association, or house of worship. Check with the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (click on link below, or call NHPCO’s HelpLine at 1-800-658-8898). Check with the local state departments of health or social services to learn which hospices are certified (making them eligible for Medicare and in some states Medicaid). Or Google hospices and your zip code (which may turn up hospices that do not belong to NHPCO as well as those that do).

[Go Top]

Links to hospice and palliative Care

Find a local hospice (database of National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, or call NHPCO’s HelpLine, 1-800-658-8898)

A chance to pick hospice, and still hope to live, by Reed Abelson (New York Times, February 2007)

Find a hospice in U.K. or Ireland

Find a hospice (short list of hospices around the world, International Hospice Web, International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care)

Frequently asked questions about end-of-life experience and care (Ira Byock, MD)

Books on Death and Dying. Booklist prepared by Shirley Rossa and the
End-of-Life Care Partnership

Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA)

Caring Connections (tollfree help line 1-800-658-8898, National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization)

Caring Bridge (free websites to support and connect loved ones during critical illness, treatment, and recovery)

Center to Advance Palliative Care

Five Wishes (put this at the top of your to-do list)

Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa (FHSSA)

Frequently asked questions about hospice (Caring Connections)

Hospice care options and the Medicare Benefit (KUED7 and the National Hospice
Foundation)

Initiative to Improve Palliative Care for African Americans (IIPCA, poke through ads and find useful links)

Hospice Blog (see, for example, How to choose a hospice), for if you want to know DEEPLY about hospices, which you do, if you are going to use one

Hospice, information about (hospice.net)

How to find a hospice for many areas of the world (Growth House)

Hospice, a resource for patients and those who care for them (basic information about how hospices work)

Hospice care (articles, Association of Death Education and Counseling newsletter)

Humorist Art Buchwald Illuminates the Blessings of Hospice (story by Jane E. Brody, New York Times)

Medicare benefits and hospice (American Hospice Foundation)

Medicare on Medicare hospice benefits (PDF file)

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)

Palliative care (Wikipedia's explanation of pain alleviation)

Palliative Care Programs, directory of (Center to Advance Palliative Care, CAPC)

Pallimed, a hospice and palliative care blog

PBS's End of Life Series (transcripts and audiotapes on topics ranging from palliative care and the after life to do-it-yourself funerals and burial societies)

Readings, prayers, and spiritual resources (hospice.net)

Visiting Nurse Association (VNA)

203 days. A video by documentary filmmaker Bailey Barash. A woman makes peace with dying. Click here to view free, online--23 minutes.

What is palliative care and how does one get it? (Getpalliativecare.org)