Death and dying are topics most people would prefer not to talk about, but everyone eventually must deal with the subjects at some point in their lives. In a growing number of those instances, discussions and decisions about end-of-life care now involve hospice, a program designed to provide support and care for persons with a limited life expectancy so that they can live as fully and comfortably as possible. Excellent hospice care from several agencies in the Chattanooga area has been available for decades, but the options for delivery of that service have been somewhat limited by a lack of a vital component. In a few months, that will no longer be true.
State approval of a Hospice of Chattanooga request to operate two 16-bed residential facilities -- one in Hamilton County, the other in Bradley County and the first of the type in the area -- is a sound decision. The facilities will significantly expand the ability of region's oldest provider of hospice services to more fully meet the physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological and spiritual needs of patients and their families.
The Chattanooga facility approved Wednesday by the State Health Services and Development Agency will be located in a wing of the Health Center at Standifer Place, a nursing home. Renovations there are expected to cost $2.19 million and to be accomplished quickly. Officials hope to the new option in hospice care will be available early in 2010.
The Cleveland facility, located on a 50-acre site and to be called Pleasant Grove, will take longer to come on line. The $6.5 million project will take about two years to build. When finished, it will complement the Chattanooga facility and buttress Hospice of Chattanooga's ability to serve clients in a nine Tennessee and five Georgia counties.
The pair of two residential facilities will fill an important niche in Hospice of Chattanooga's coordinated program of palliative and supportive services. While most hospice clients are treated at home, it is sometimes impossible for them to remain there. Currently, that necessitates a move to a hospital, many of which are not equipped or staffed to meet the well defined mission of the hospice program. The new residential facilities will provide a more compatible and a more cost-efficient way to deliver hospice-appropriate care. That's a boon to both the hospice patient and those that love and care for them.
The state board members who unanimously approved the applications for the new residential facilities by a 6-0 vote understand both the need for such centers and the ability of Hospice of Chattanooga to deliver it. "You do an excellent job," HDSA member Gregory Lammert told Hospice officials at the meeting. "I see this as a no-brainer. ... I applaud you for it."
Hospice care is not for everyone, but it is a viable option for end-of life care. Hospice, for those who choose it, is comfort care, with the goal to keep a patient comfortable through their last days. Hospice also serves the family and the caregivers of patients. Loved ones learn about the process of living and dying and are helped through the challenging times. Those are invaluable services often unavailable from other sources.
The end of life can be a difficult experience, but the hospice movement helps tens of thousands of individuals and families here and around the nation navigate that path each year. The addition of residential facilities here will make that task much easier for both those who employ hospice services and for those who provide them.
Hospice care are angels of mercy at the time a terminal patients needs the most humane care. These right-wing talk show folks took this concept and twisted it to the point of scaring folks into believing the health care reform had a clause to "kill grandma". There is nothing I can think of lower than anyone who would spread such a lie.
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