Our mission is to provide compassionate pain management and palliative care offered with empathy. We strive to add dignity and comfort to death and to celebrate and enhance the process of dying. We offer support and comfort to loved ones during the illness, through death and after.

Hospice emphasizes palliative rather than curative treatment; quality rather than quantity of life. The dying are comforted as professional medical care is given, and sophisticated symptom relief provided. The patient and family are both included in the care plan and emotional, spiritual and practical support is given based on the patient's wishes and family's needs.

Hospice affirms life and regards dying as a normal process. Hospice neither hastens nor postpones death. Hospice provides a caring community so patients and families can attain the necessary preparation of a death that is loving and as pain-free as possible.

Those involved in the process of dying have a variety of physical, spiritual, emotional and social needs. The nature of dying is so unique that the goal of the hospice team is to be sensitive and responsive to each individual and their family.

Hospice care is provided to those patients who have a limited life expectancy and are no longer receiving aggressive treatments. Many hospice patients are cancer patients; however other diagnoses are appropriate including a progressive decline in the health of a person with advanced chronic diseases, such as heart, lung or Alzheimer's.

Because it can take some time for hospice professionals to tailor palliative care and pain management to each person, it is best to begin some level of professional care before a crisis exists. Families often feel it is "too soon" to begin hospice care and wait until death is very near. Bringing hospice professionals in at the last minute may limit their effectiveness. A better approach is to arrange introductory meetings with our hospice professionals and to put the support network in place well in advance of need.

The decision to begin hospice care may intensify feelings of grief and bereavement, both in the person who is dying and in others. Bereavement support is a major component of hospice care and continues to provide support to the family and others long after death. Many support groups are available to help through this end of life process, including groups our hospice agency facilitates.