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Free Local Hospice Guide Available

August 15, 2016

Hospice: A Wealth of Information About a Rich Resource answers many questions you might have about what hospice really is; how to choose a hospice; and how to pay for hospice. The guide covers other important topics, such as the benefits of hospice; bereavement services; meeting the needs of terminally ill patients and dealing with grieving children, as well as a directory of important agencies and services for further information.

HospiceBrochureLogoKeohane Funeral Home is proud to partner with three area hospice centers – South Shore Hospital Hospice of the South Shore; NVNA and Hospice; and Old Colony Hospice – to answer all of your questions in one comprehensive guide which is free of charge for the community.

“We understand that determining if hospice care is needed for a loved one can be a difficult decision with many complicated issues,” said Co-President John Keohane. “We hope this guide will be an invaluable resource to our community to provide helpful information and help ease any uncertainties around hospice care and end-of-life issues.”

The guide explains what you can expect hospice to provide and how to be referred to hospice:

Lisa Melchionna is an RN and Interim Hospice Director at the Hospice of the South Shore, which
is part of the South Shore Hospital organization. “We provide a whole continuum of care to the south
shore region and are fortunate to be affiliated with some of Boston’s well- known teaching institutions. Although many of our patients come to us from South Shore Hospital, many others are referred from a variety of community resources.”

Some of those community resources for referral to hospice include hospitals, nursing homes and physicians.

Hospice facilities often provide a home-like atmosphere and strive to make patients and their families as comfortable as possible. The Pat Roche Hospice Home in Hingham, operated by the Norwell VNA and Hospice, was originally a stately home. Joan Wright of Norwell VNA and Hospice describes the facility in the guide:

“We have the only non-profit residence on the South Shore,” said Joan Wright of Norwell VNA and Hospice. “It’s important to get a residence in the neighborhoods where the patients live. Our 12-bed residence was an old house, used as a rest home that morphed into assisted living. We bought it in 2012 and renovated it extensively to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act. We often have a waiting list.”

Hospice care can be utilized as soon as a patient receives a terminal diagnosis with a life expectancy of six months or less, however, patients may receive hospice services as long as medically necessary. Some families wait for the last few days of life to bring in hospice and miss out on much-needed relief.

Mike Cruza of Old Colony Hospice says in the guide: “Ideally, families should use the six-month benefit, but there is no crystal ball that tells you when that point is reached. I hear a lot: ‘I wish I had known about this sooner.’ Nobody says, ‘I wish I hadn’t come so soon.’”

The hospice guide is available at all Keohane Funeral Home locations as well as senior centers and hospice groups in the South Shore area, including South Shore Hospital Hospice of the South Shore; NVNA and Hospice; and Old Colony Hospice. It will also be available in .pdf format via email or downloadable directly from our website.

To view our new hospice guide, please follow the link to our newsletter page.

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