Making the decision to put a loved one on hospice can often be one of the hardest decisions their family must make. But it does not always mean you are giving up on that loved one.
“There are two different aspects to hospice,” Interim Home Health and Hospice’s Jamilou Williams said. “When they are resistant to hospice, they think about how hospice was years ago. For them, it may be someone laying in their living room, on their hospital bed, with everyone around them crying and waiting for them to die. That’s not what hospice is.”
Williams said the primary purpose of hospice is for the patient to “live the best quality of what they have left in their life.”
“Hospice is about the family along with the patient,” Williams said. “It’s about managing a patient’s symptoms to improve the quality of their life. We don’t shorten their lifespans.”
In improving their quality of life, which is important to Medicare/Medicaid, often patients’ lives are prolonged. Hospice also allows more flexibility to the families who may be taking care of the loved one.
“It allows the family to go on with their lives and they feel comfort from hospice,” Williams said. “They have the support both in the home and respite care (in a nursing facility). Patients receive the care from the nursing home but our hospice staff still goes into the nursing facility to care for them also. So, the family can have a break. The ones who are caregivers are exhausted most of the time.”
Hospice is paid for by Medicare and Medicaid. Included in hospice is a medical director, hospice physician, RN/case manager, LVNs, social worker, home health aides and volunteers.
Interim’s Home Health and Hospice has 50 staff members locally who serve a 60-mile radius around Pampa.
Interim’s Home Health side of the organization covers a wide-range of medical needs.
“It covers if you were in the hospital for a knee replacement, heart surgery, difficulty controlling diabetes, urinary issues, falls, etc.,” Williams said.
Williams has been with Interim for 12 years and said the company’s principles is what keeps her with the company. She also recommends those interested in joining Interim to come work for the company.
“I work with a company that’s ethical, believes in helping a patient and their family and they follow Medicare’s guidelines,” Williams said. “We are always looking for nurses in those out-lying, smaller communities like Perryton or Spearman. It’s hard for our nurses in Borger and Pampa, and we would be able to service more people in those areas.”
Those interested in applying can go to www.interimhealthcarecareers.com.
For more information on Interim Home Health and Hospice in Pampa, call 806-665-1445.
