Caring for Your Loved Ones
BY Arlene Harder, MA, MFT
This index of articles on caregiving can help you navigate the difficulty of traveling on another road with a loved one.
The articles in this section originally appeared in a section of the nonprofit website CancerOnline (no longer active) for which I had been executive director. I have continued to use them for this site because they apply to almost everyone who, at one time or another, will be a caregiver for someone who is seriously ill.
The articles on Hospice reflect the kind compassion of that wonderful organization, as stated in The Philosophy of Hospice, (reprinted with permission of Wendy Edwards, Hospice Volunteers of Pasadena):
Hospice recognizes dying as a normal process, whether or not it results from disease. Hospice neither hastens nor postpones death. Hospice exists in the hope and belief that, through appropriate care and the promotion of a caring, sensitive community, patients and their families may be free to attain some degree of mental and spiritual preparation for death that is comfortable to them. (Standards of a Hospice Program of Care, National Hospice Organization, February 1979.) The growing hospice movement has brought new hope and meaning for terminally ill people and their families.
Hospice affirms life by providing support and care for persons in the last phases of incurable disease so that they might live as fully and comfortably as possible. Hospice care is dedicated to supporting the dignity of the human experience. It is designed to help patients live at home, stay as active as possible, and express and accept their feelings. The Hospice program provides palliative care and therapeutic relief of the symptoms and stressors which may diminish the quality of life for terminally ill patients and their families.
Hospice treats the whole person by considering all aspects of the lives of the patients and their families as valid areas of therapeutic concern. Those involved in the process of dying have a variety of physical, spiritual, emotional and social needs. The nature of dying is so unique for each person that the goal of hospice care is to be sensitive and responsible to the special requirements of each individual and family. |
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