A Hospice Guide Book
Hospice Care: A Wise Choice Providing Quality Comfort Care Through the End of Life's Journey
by
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It was Dr. Cicely Saunders who pioneered, set forth, and developed many of the foundational principles of modern day Hospice Care. Dr. Saunders recognized death as a natural process. Her philosophy which encapsulates the Modern Day Hospice Philosophy was neither to extend - by prolonging - nor hasten death. Rather, her philosophy and purpose was to provide physical, emotional, psychological social and spiritual care for the terminally ill patient in the comfort of their home, or in a home-like Hospice facility setting enabling the patient to die a peaceful death with dignity
A quote from Dr. Saunders appropriately expresses her philosophy about life, death and dying.
“…You matter to the last moment of your life,
And we will do all we can,
Not only to help you die peacefully,
But also to live until you die.”
Dame Cicely Saunders
Founder of the Modern Day Hospice Movement
Hospice neither prolongs the patient’s life, nor hastens the patient’s death.
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About the Book
When you or a loved one are diagnosed with a terminal illness, you wonder what can be done to make life easier and more meaningful during the remaining time on earth. In A Hospice Guide Book, author Dr. Curtis E. Smith shows how the concept of hospice, which emphasizes the important provisions of comfort care through the end-of-life journey, can help terminal patients die a comfortable, peaceful death with dignity.
A resource for families, patients, and health care providers, A Hospice Guide Book provides a thorough explanation of the hospice concept. It discusses
• the definition of hospice care and its origins;
• hospice fallacies, myths, and facts;
• alternative care modalities;
• the hospice team and its responsibilities;
• levels of care and treatment;
• pain and pain management;
• hospice residences;
• end of life care.
A Hospice Guide Book presents a plethora of information about hospice, enabling those who could become hospice patients the opportunity to receive the benefit of expert comfort care; pain control management; symptom control; and emotional, spiritual, and psychosocial support as they live with their terminal illness during the end-of-life journey and peacefully transition from this life to the next.
About the Author
Curtis E. Smith is a psychotherapist and ordained nondenominational minister. He earned doctoral degrees in human behavior and psychology. Smith has a clinical pastoral education background and extensive experience in hospice care. He lives with his family in Anaheim, California. This is his third book.