the Price of Hospice Care

My mother-in-law was dying of lung cancer but didn't want to go into a nursing home. She had been in a nursing home when she broke her hip from a fall and didn't like the care she received there. She also got pheumonia while in the nursing home and felt that it was due to the germs that are rampant in a healthcare facility. She wound up at the hospital where she stayed over a week. When the diagnosis of lung cancer came in they gave her 6 months to a year to live. We all work outside the home and couldn't give her the care she needed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for that long amount of time. We did some checking and asked around and fortunately, between her health insurance and medicare she was covered for home care/hospice care at home. We were concerned about leaving her in the care of someone we didn't know. It was actually her doctor's office that got us all the information we needed and helped to set up the daily visits. Her cancer was worse then they thought and she only had 6 weeks of home care.

They came every day for 4 hours during the weekdays and the family all pitched in during the other times. They were wonderful and very caring. A STNA was there during the 4 hours to take care of her basic needs and they would send a nurse twice a week. We were quite surprised that the same STNA was there everyday. This made it better because she became friends with my mother-in-law and took care of her like she was her own grandma. She made her lunch, toileted her and most important she read to her and kept her company. The only medication my mother-in-law was on at the time was her nebulizer to help her breathe, and the STNA would help her with that. They made sure that a RN came in twice a week to make sure she wasn't in pain and check her out more thouroughly. She would report back to the family and her doctors. During The cancer progressed quickly and she passed away within 6 weeks. I guess the only thing I can criticize is that they wouldn't let us have this care for more hours. We had to adjust our work schedules and take FMLA leave to make sure that mom wasn't left alone because she couldn't get out of bed.

If you have health insurance, make sure it covers at home care, especially hospice. Some plans cover 100% others have a deductable or only cover a percentage.