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Hospice Program
As the end of life draws near and the focus of care shifts from curing to providing comfort, hospice patients and their families receive invaluable comfort, education and support from trained, experienced staff. Hospice support services not only keep the patient comfortable and educate the family, but also provide emotional support, enabling patients to make the most of each day and to experience the end of life with greater dignity from the comfort of their own homes.
Admissions Guidelines
1) The patient’s condition is life limiting (with life expectancy of six months or less) and the patient and/or family is aware of this determination.
2) The patient and/or family have elected treatment goals directed toward comfort and quality of life (palliative care) rather than cure of the underlying disease (curative care).
3) Non-cancer terminal illnesses which may qualify for care under the Medicare Hospice Benefit:
a. Heart disease – Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
b. Pumonary disease – COPD
c. CVA and coma
d. Dementia
e. Renal disease
f. HIV / AIDS
g. Liver disease
h. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
i. Failure to thrive
j. Debility unspecified
4) The patient has one of the following:
a. Documented clinical progression of disease as determined by multiple emergency department visits or inpatient hospitalizations over the last six months.
b. Diminished functional status as determined by Karnofsky Performance Status Scale of less than or equal to 50 percent or dependence in at least three of six activities of daily living (i.e. bathe, dress/undress, eat, transfer from bed to chair and back, maintain continence, and use the toilet).
c. Unintentional progressive weight loss of greater than 10 percent over the prior six months.
Hospice Team:
Our hospice team provides hospice care in a number of settings – from home to assisted living facilities to nursing or long term care facilities. The team is made up of carefully selected and screened professionals that provide the same high quality care that physicians and patients alike have come to expect from Sentara. You can be confident that our staff treats patients and family members with the utmost of care and respect.
Our team, working in concert with the patient’s attending physician, includes:
 Hospice medical director
Registered nurses
Licensed Practical Nurses
Medical social workers
Home health aides
Pastoral counselor
Bereavement counselor
Trained volunteers
Hospice in a Long-Term Care Setting
For many people, an assisted living facility or nursing home is their home – a place where they live and where they can receive the care and support they need.
When a patient is ready for hospice, Sentara Hospice will collaborate with the long-term care facility in caring for the patient. Combining the expertise of the nursing home staff with that of the hospice team will provide optimal care for the patients. Hospice offers the same services in a long-term care facility as in the patient’s home.
These services include:
Visits by the hospice nurse for pain and symptom management
Personal care by hospice aids to supplement the care offered by the nursing home
Individual and/or family counseling by social workers
Chaplains to meet one-on-one with the patient
Volunteers to assist with errands or just to visit
Coordination of needed medical equipment and supplies related to the terminal illness
On call hospice staff 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week
Grief counseling and support for family members during the illness and for 13 months following death
Palliative Care
When you are facing a serious illness, you need relief. Relief from pain. Relief from other symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite and shortness of breath. Relief from stress. You need to improve your ability to tolerate medical treatments. And, you need to be able to carry on with everyday life.
In short, you want to feel better. This is what palliative care can do for you.
The goal of palliative care is to relieve the pain, symptoms and stress of serious illness, whatever the diagnosis or prognosis. It is appropriate for people of any age and at any point in an illness. It can be delivered along with treatments that are meant to cure you.
Sentara Home Care Services’ Hospice Program has partnered with our Sentara hospitals and their palliative care team to provide care and support in the hospital setting and transition those patients to Hospice when the illness is terminal and the patient is ready to accept hospice.
For more information on Palliative Care, or the Sentara Hospice or Bridge Programs, call (757) 549-7755 or (888) 461-5649.
Bridge Program
Sentara Home Care Services’ Bridge Program is designed to assist patients who have received a terminal diagnosis with a life expectancy of one year or less who want to continue to receive curative rather than palliative care.
This program helps to ease the transition from curative to palliative care. Patients may still be receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy, dialysis or frequent blood transfusions.
The program is also a way for patients and caregivers to accept the terminal diagnosis. It also provides the support needed to maintain the best possible quality of life in the areas of emotional, social and spiritual well-being.
Caregivers will receive 13 months of bereavement follow-up, and patients admitted to the program will be assigned a nurse and a social worker from the palliative care program. Volunteers and clergy will be assigned as requested.
For more information on the Sentara Hospice or Bridge Programs, call (757) 549-7755 or (888) 461-5649.
Bereavement Services
Grieving the death of a loved one is often hard work and can be a painful and lonely road to travel. Grief is a very personal experience and people grieve in different ways.
Realizing this, the Sentara Hospice Program offers continued support for family and friends after the death of a loved one. The following are some of the ongoing programs offered:
Support groups that meet regularly to bring those who have experienced a loss together face-to-face for group interaction and sharing.
Annual memorial service for families to honor and remember Sentara Hospice patients who have died during the previous year.
Online Grief Support Group for those who would benefit from interacting with others as they work through the grieving process but wish to remain anonymous.
For assistance with any of these programs, please call Roger Gauthier, bereavement coordinator, at (757) 549-5652.
 Camp Lighthouse
Camp Lighthouse is a two-day camp organized by Sentara Home Care Services’ Hospice Program to aid children and teens who are dealing with grief. The camp is geared toward children age 5 to 16 who have lost a family member or loved one during the past two years. At the camp, trained professionals and volunteers help children and their families explore issues related to grief, walking beside them as they take the needed steps to heal. By sharing their grief with others, children and adults begin to let it go.
Informational brochure (PDF file)
FAQs about Camp Lighthouse
Volunteers
An Opportunity to Make a Difference
One of life’s most profound moments may be when we are informed of our own or a loved one’s impending death. Patients and their families are often overwhelmed with the task at hand. Hospice is dedicated to the physical, emotional, and social support of patients at the end of life and to their loved ones. At the very core of hospice are the volunteers who give of themselves to enhance the lives of patients and their families.
Volunteers can provide many different services for patients and caregivers:
Companionship
Shopping
Errands
Meal preparations
Patient care
Reading to patients
Spiritual support
Fundraising events
Volunteers are also needed to assist in the hospice office with mailings and bereavement activities.
Remember Me Bear Program
A special remembrance gift is given to hospice families after the death of their loved one – a “Remember Me Bear.”
Hospice staff and/or volunteers ask families for a garment of clothing that belonged to their deceased loved one. Special sewing volunteers cut down the garment to make a replica of it to fit a stuffed bear. The dressed bear is then given to the family in memory of their loved one.
The bears have been a wonderful gift and comfort to the families who have received them. Comments received by family members participating in the program include:
“I love my bear, I think of my mother every time I look at it.”
“The lovely teddy bear wearing material from my late Mom’s gown touched my heart. I am so grateful for all your kind services. Please tell your staff how much this means.”
“The bear brought tears to my eyes and happiness to my heart.”
Comfort Pillows
Another way Sentara Hospice volunteers make a difference in the lives of their patients is through a comfort pillow. These small pillows of various sizes are made by volunteers out of washable material and stuffing. They are provided to our hospice patients for their "comfort."
These are just a few of the ways volunteers help families manage the tasks involved in caring for a loved one at home. We invite you to explore the challenging and rewarding opportunities offered to the trained volunteers of the Sentara Hospice Program. Please call Volunteer Services at (757)549-5649 for more information on how you can become a volunteer.
Donations
The Sentara Health Foundation manages donations made to Sentara Hospice, which is a not-for-profit organization that accepts patients regardless of their ability to pay for services. Your donations assist Sentara Hospice in providing services to these patients. Find out more about how you can make a donation and make a difference.
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