Hospice Care — Why Is it Important?

An Ohio-based pharmacist, Marc Sweeney is the CEO of Profero Team, LLC in Xenia, Ohio. He also served as a professor and the founding dean at the Cedarville University School of Pharmacy, Ohio. Marc Sweeney has experience in several practices, such as hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy, pain management, and clinical hospice.

Hospice care is a particular type of health care concerned with comforting and alleviating the pain of terminally ill people. Hospice care is focused on giving them a better quality of life by easing their pain. Terminal illnesses may be advanced cancer, Alzheimer’s, dementia, or multiple organ failure. Terminal illnesses cannot be cured. Doctors may give a living estimate of six months or less.

Hospice care also provides comfort to the family of the patient. Receiving a terminal diagnosis is challenging for the patient and the family. Hospice care services help the family by providing information about the disease and telling them if it is hereditary or not and how to avoid it. It also guides families on the best way to care for their loved ones. Hospice care not only focuses on the physical health needs of the terminally ill but also on their emotional, psychological, and social needs.