November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month. Five Things You Should Know About Hospice.

Here are five things to know to help dispel some of the misunderstandings about hospice care.

1. Hospice isn’t about ‘giving up.’ Hospice can extend your life.

Hospice is often associated with ideas of giving up or surrendering to death.

Statistics show otherwise. Studies published in 2007 by the New England Journal of Medicine and in 2016 by the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management found that patients receiving palliative care or hospice services lived 30 to 60 days longer than those with similar terminal diagnoses following standard medical treatment.

2. Hospice can come to you.

Hospice can take place in an institutional setting like a hospital or a nursing home. Hospice care can also take care of a client at their home. When a patient in the Shenandoah Valley needs acute care, they can spend time at Shenandoah House, where they can receive acute medical care for their illness. Shenandoah House also can host hospice patients for respite care, so that their primary caregivers — usually family — can catch their breath and get a little time freed up.