FAQ
- SERVICE FAQ'S
- When is Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region available to the patient and their family?
- What is the role of nurse on the care team?
- How are the patient's personal care needs handled?
- What is the role of the medical social worker on the care team?
- How is spiritual care provided?
- What bereavement or grief care services are available and to whom?
- What are the benefits of case management?
- How does Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region help patients and their families access community resources?
- What if the patient needs hospitalization?
- What is the H.A.R.T. Program?
- Does your organization care for children?
- What kind of Community Education is provided?
- What other life threatening illnesses, besides cancer(s), are appropriate for hospice care?
- What role does the primary physician play once a patient comes under care?
- What if a patient under your care lives beyond six months?
- What is palliative medicine?
- What is a "caregiving plan"?
- What is a "Do Not Resuscitate Order" (DNR)?
- What is a Living Will/Health Care Power of Attorney?
- What role do volunteers play?
- How is Hospice care funded?
- How does your organization support the non-reimbursed services they provide?
- How do I make a gift to help support the services offered by your organization?
- What are major special events and fund raising activities that are conducted each year to help to support the mission of Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region?
- What if a person does not have Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance?
- What non-reimbursed services does Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region provide?
SERVICE FAQ'S
Q. When is Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region available to the patient and their family?
Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region offers 24 hour a day, seven day a week on-call availability for emergencies. We do not provide continuous shift work. To reach us at anytime, you may call 704.375.0100.
Q. What is the role of nurse on the care team?
Our staff nurses provide intermittent skilled nursing visits for pain and symptom management, plus education regarding care of the patient.
Q. How are the patient's personal care needs handled?
When ordered by a physician, we provide certified, in-home aide services to help patients with personal care, including bathing, skin, mouth and hair care.
Q. What is the role of the medical social worker on the care team?
Our social workers provide counseling and support to the patient and family, including children, during this stressful time. Services may include assistance in identifying community resources, advice regarding financial, legal and caregiving concerns that occur with a prolonged illness, as well as other individual services as appropriate.
Q. How is spiritual care provided?
Our staff chaplains provide and/or coordinate spiritual care for patients and families by helping them find the spiritual comfort, strength and hope consistent with their own values, beliefs and practices. Spiritual care can also offer the support needed to explore, clarify or resolve spiritual issues of concern.
Q. What bereavement or grief care services are available and to whom?
We recognize the special needs of those who have experienced the death of a loved one, and provide the individual and group support necessary to face grief. Services are available to families and loved ones of our patients or those of other hospice programs, and are also available to anyone who resides in our community.
For more information about support groups please call the Grief Care Center at 704.335.4300 or click here.
Q. What are the benefits of case management?
Every patient and their family is assigned a primary nurse and social worker, who are key members of the care team. They coordinate all aspects of patient/family care, which allows better communication of needs and delivery of services. The care team can also include the patient's primary physician as well as one of our staff physicians to fully care for the whole person. By request, an in-home aide, chaplain or volunteer may join the care team to support the patient and their family.
Our care team works together to identify the changing needs of the patient and their family, and to facilitate access to those community resources/services not directly provided by our organization.
Q. What if the patient needs hospitalization?
If hospitalization is needed, the care team will coordinate this transition and maintain contact with the patient and their family during the patient's stay in the hospital. We have contracts with all hospitals in our service area.
Q. What is the H.A.R.T. Program?
Home is not the only place where care may be provided. The Hospice Alternative Residence Team (H.A.R.T.) is a specialized team providing hospice and palliative care in skilled nursing homes, assisted living residences and retirement communities. The H.A.R.T. team provides consultation on pain and symptom management as well as ongoing training and education on patient care, family needs and grief and loss information. The goal of the H.A.R.T. team is to make the patient feel that they are receiving the same services as they would in their own home. The team also provides support to facility staff.
For more information about H.A.R.T. please call our H.A.R.T. Program at 704.375.0100 or click here.
Q. Does your organization care for children?
Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region is the only provider of a specialized children's program in our nine-county service area. The Kids Path children's program specializes in caring for the unique needs of seriously ill children and their loved ones. This program offers four areas of care dedicated to enhancing and promoting a high quality of life. These include 1) Home Health, 2) Hospice and 3) Palliative Medicine.
For more information about Kids Path, please call 704.375.0100.
Q. What kind of Community Education is provided?
Our specially trained staff and volunteers give presentations to civic groups, long term care communities, businesses, communities of faith and other groups who want to learn more about our services and programs.
For more information about arranging a speaker, please call Marilyn Morenz, Director of Client Education at 704.335.3579.
SERVICE AREA FAQ'S
Q. What parts of these counties do you serve?
Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region serves all of Mecklenburg, Lincoln, Cabarrus, Union, Gaston, Cleveland, Catawba and Iredell counties in North Carolina.
For more information about our service areas, please call The Referral Center at 704.375.0100.
Q. Where are your offices in Charlotte, Davidson, Lincolnton and Huntersville?
Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region--Main Campus
1420 East Seventh Street
Charlotte, NC 28204
Phone: 704.375.0100
Fax: 704.375.8623
Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region-- South Charlotte
7845 Little Avenue
Charlotte, NC 28226
Phone: 704.375.0100
Fax: 704.335.3599
Hospice and Palliative Care Lake Norman
705 Griffith Street, Suite 203
Davidson, NC 28036
Phone 704.375.0100
Fax: 704.892.5052
Hospice and Palliative Care Lincoln County
107 North Cedar Street
Lincolnton, NC 28092
Phone: 704.732.6146
Fax: 704.736.0264
Levine & Dickson Hospice House
The Park Huntersville
11900 Vanstory Drive
Huntersville, NC 28078
Phone: 704.375.0100
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FAQ'S
Q. What other life threatening illnesses, besides cancer(s), are appropriate for hospice care?
Other disease categories may include, but are not limited to, end-stage cardiac, pulmonary, liver and renal diseases, stroke and coma, as well as amyotrophic laterial sclerosis (ALS) and other end-stage neurological diseases, Alzheimer's Disease and AIDS. We accept patients with any life threatening illness resulting in an expected prognosis of six months or less for hospice care.
Q. What role does the primary physician play once a patient comes under care?
The primary/referring physician is an integral part of the patient's care team. Team members update and consult with the physician on a regular basis.
Q. What if a patient under your care lives beyond six months?
When the patient's physician signs the hospice certification, it signifies that he/she believes that, in their best medical estimate, life expectancy is six months or less if the illness takes its expected course. However, patients will not be discharged from our care if they exceed that time frame, as long as they meet the criteria for receiving hospice care.
Q. What is palliative medicine?
Palliative Medicine is health care for individuals of any age who have a chronic, life-limiting illness. Palliative medicine is active care. It is care that aggressively seeks to improve quality of life by focusing on physical symptoms as well as emotional, social and spiritual needs. While Palliative Medicine emphasizes pain control and other symptom management, patients do not have to forgo curative or restorative care. Palliative Medicine also reaches out to address the needs of family members and caregivers to maximize support to the patient. To learn more about our Palliative Medicine Consultants Program, click here.
Q. What is a "caregiving plan"?
When a patient comes under Hospice or Palliative care, a plan of care is developed based on the needs of the patient and their family. This plan outlines the multilevel, clinical services that will be provided, and it is updated regularly to reflect the changing needs of the patient and family.
Q. What is a "Do Not Resuscitate Order" (DNR)?
A DNR is an order, signed by the patient's primary physician, which states that in the event of death, CPR will not be attempted. Patients do not need to have a DNR order to be under the care of Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region.
Q. What is a Living Will/Health Care Power of Attorney?
A Living Will states the wishes of the patient regarding a desire for a natural death. A Health Care Power of Attorney legally appoints a surrogate if the patient is unable to make medical decisions. Contact us at 704.375.0100 for additional information regarding Advance Care Planning.
ACCESS TO SERVICES FAQ'S
Our Referral Center Coordinator will call to set an appointment with the patient, the patient's caregiver (usually a designated family member) and other family members. A Referral Center admissions nurse will then visit the patient where they are residing, whether home, facility or hospital, and complete a detailed physical assessment of the patient's condition. Our various services are described, questions are addressed and the patient can choose to come under our care at that time. One of the patient's caregivers must attend the initial assessment, which can be scheduled after business hours and on weekends. Family members are encouraged to be present.
Hospice is a holistic approach to end-of-life care, in the home or home-like setting, addressing the physical, emotional, psychosocial and spiritual needs of the patient and their family. Given the excellent care that a patient receives under our care, the patient and the family will both benefit from a longer relationship with our care team. Therefore, it is important once a diagnosis and prognosis is determined, to discuss the hospice option of end-of-life care with your physician.
Healthcare providers have long held the belief that patients can live longer under hospice care. A recent study published in the March 2007 issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management supports this belief. Researchers from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), in collaboration with Milliman, Inc., a highly regarded consulting and actuarial firm, conducted the study. They selected 4,493 patients diagnosed with either congestive heart failure or cancer of the breast, colon, lung, pancreas, or prostate, and analyzed the difference in survival periods between those who received hospice care and those who did not Among the groups studied, patients who chose hospice care lived an average of 29 days longer than similar patients who did not choose hospice. And, according to the study, these patients had improved quality of life. Even more important than living longer, hospice patients tend to live better. This is good news not only for patients, but for their families as well.
CREDENTIALS FAQ'S
Q. How is Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region licensed?
We are licensed by the states of North and South Carolina to provide hospice care to persons with terminal illness and support services to patients' loved ones. We are also licensed in North Carolina to provide home health services. Yearly reviews of our policies, procedures and record keeping are conducted. We have a Department of Quality Improvement which monitors all aspects of the agency's operations.
Q. Does your organization have accreditation?
We take quality seriously and are accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care, Inc. (ACHC) Established in 1986, the goal of ACHC is to provide patient-focused, provider-friendly, educational accreditation programs. ACHC is committed to ensure that health care providers are adhering to the highest standards to benefit consumers.
Our organization is also accredited by the National Institute For Jewish Hospice Training and Accreditation Program (NIJH). This program is designed to inform and educate staff, doctors, nurses, volunteers, social workers, and anyone involved in the treatment and care of the Jewish terminally ill.
Q. To what national and/or statewide organizations do you belong?
We are a charter member of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and The Carolinas Center for Hospice and End-of-Life Care. These organizations represent and provide support for over 3,000 hospice programs nationally and 100 agencies in both North and South Carolina, respectively.
These organizations may be contacted at:
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
1700 Diagonal Road, Suite 625
Arlington, VA 22314
Phone: 1.800.658.8898
Fax: 703.525.5762
www.nhpco.org
The Carolinas Center for Hospice and End-of-Life Care
2400 Weston Parkway
Cary, NC 27513
Phone: 1.800.662.8859
Phone: 919.677.4100
Fax: 919.677.4199
www.carolinasendoflifecare.org/hospice
HOW YOU CAN HELP FAQ'S
Q. What role do volunteers play?
Volunteers are truly the "heart" of hospice care. We have over 400 active trained volunteers who provide a variety of services to patients and their families. These services include, but are not limited to, regular visits to patients for companionship and support, respite for caregivers, transportation for errands and medical appointments and follow-up bereavement support to survivors. Special skill(s) volunteers provide unique services like massages, hair styling, home repairs and yard care, notary services, language interpreters/translators, meal preparation, and much more. Other volunteers support our office staff with fund raising and public speaking, provide spiritual care as volunteer chaplains, visit long term care facilities with the Hospice Alternative Residence Team (H.A.R.T.) and assist in the Kids Path Pediatric Program. Communities of Faith and other civic groups are involved in a number of special projects, including the ADOPT-A-PATIENT program, designed to offer supplemental caregiving for Hospice patients.
For more information about Volunteer Opportunities, please call our Volunteer Services Department at 704.375.3578.
Q. How is Hospice care funded?
Some of our services are covered by reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance. Those on Medicare and Medicaid may be eligible for a special hospice benefit. Donations from the community are another important means of financial support for our programs.
Q. How does your organization support the non-reimbursed services they provide?
We seek contributions from individuals, foundations, corporations, communities of faith and civic organizations to help pay for services not covered by reimbursements. Memorials, donations, bequests, planned gifts and other contributions are gratefully received and are important sources of funding. Grants received for specific needs/projects and special events, sponsored by or for Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region, also provide needed financial support.
Q. How do I make a gift to help support the services offered by your organization?
To make a gift (such as a donation, memorial, bequest, planned gift, other contribution or in-kind donation), please call us at 704.375.0100, or Click here.
- Soup on Sunday (Winter)
- Lake Norman Hospice Regatta (Spring)
- Annual 10K Run/Walk. (Fall)
- Light Up A Life (November/December)
For more information about fund raising and special events please call 704.335.3524.
Q. What if a person does not have Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance?
Payment for services not covered by insurance is based on the patient's ability to pay. Those eligible for care are not denied our services because of an inability to pay.
Q. What non-reimbursed services does Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region provide?
While some medical services may be reimbursed through private insurance, Medicaid or Medicare, we must raise in excess of $1.7 million each year in order to provide comprehensive medical and support services to our patients, their families and our community. Programs paid for by community support include medical care for children and patients without sufficient insurance, community education, spiritual and bereavement care, our grief camps for children who have lost a loved one, plus staff and volunteer training.
MISCELLANEOUS FAQ'S
Q. Where did the hospice concept originate?
The term "hospice" has its roots in the Middle Ages, when shelters called hospices were available to weary travelers who needed rest during their journeys. The first modern day hospice was founded in London, England in 1968. From its beginnings in 1974, the American hospice model stresses holistic health care in the home. The hospice movement has experienced extraordinary growth, with hospices now serving people in most communities. Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region has been enhancing the quality of life for patients and their families since 1978.
Q. Does your organization do anything to make death come sooner?
No, we do nothing to either speed up or slow down the dying process, but recognize that death is a natural part of life. Just as doctors and midwives lend support and expertise during the time of childbirth, we provide our presence and specialized knowledge during the dying process.
Q. What is the difference between hospice care and home health services?
Hospice care is a specialized type of health care that focuses on quality end-of-life care for individuals facing a terminal illness and support for their families. It offers a unique, multifaceted approach to caring for the whole person, including the management of pain and other physical, emotional, psychosocial or spiritual symptoms. Home health care focuses on a rehabilitative model of care, providing primarily skilled nursing services and therapies with a goal of resolving the problem within a specified time period
For more information about our programs and services, please call 704.375.0100.