Don't Be Caught Up in This Type of End-of-Life Situation!
This article spells out in detail the horrors experienced by several caregiver families and then goes further to provide statistics backing up the realities that many caregiver families have been faced with. Horrific realities that will remain planted in their memories for the rest of their lives.
In their defense, many hospice agencies are wonderful and carry out their contracted services with great efficiency. However, it appears that some of these agencies are now either more interested in their bottom line or are ill-equipped, short staffed, or lacking in experience to provide the services that you are expecting and counting on and that your loved one desperately needs during his or her decline. Beware that you do not find yourself in this same type of situation, no matter who you use as your primary end-of-life care source!
Research Your Hospice and End-of-Life Options
Research Recommendations
When you are researching your options –
– Request contact information for people the company has provided services for during the past year. Make sure that you tell the company you would like contact information for people who have worked with employees/nurses who are currently employed with the company. (Then, call the references!);
– Specifically ask if an employee/nurse/other company representative has ever not responded to a phone call, not shown up when expected, or not provided any contracted services in a timely manner;
– Ask what the company’s clients’ most common complaint(s) are and how frequently are they made;
– Ask what the company’s response time is for specific services;
– Ask what the company’s response time is on holidays, weekends, and long three-day weekends when the company may be short-staffed; and,
– Ask how many phone lines they have in the event the main line is not being answered or is busy and you have an extreme emergency.
This is a short list of suggestions and questions you can ask to begin your research. However, take some time to think of other questions that may be useful and essential.
Additional Research Recommendations
In addition, you should use other research methods. Such as –
– Perform an online search of the company. If the company has several locations or is part of a larger organization, be sure to research the company as a whole and, more specifically, your local location/branch;
– Ask people you know what they did for end-of-life care for their loved ones. Ask if they were pleased with the services they received and ask about the pros and cons of the company they worked with;
– Ask your preacher or minister who he or she would recommend and prompt a discussion about the company’s pros and cons.
When you receive a recommendation, don’t stop there. You should still perform research related to the company. (And, don’t forget that you are actually looking for two caring, responsive, and reliable end-of-life care sources.)
Do your research ahead of time and, if you know your loved one is approaching end-of-life but not yet ready for hospice or other end-of-life support, be sure to duplicate your research every three to six months so you can rely on experienced and efficient support when you and your loved one need it the most!
Keep looking up,
Melodee
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