Hospice Care

The agency provides end of life services for people in the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita Valley who are in their own home or in a residential care facility. The program provides palliative care for terminally ill patients. Services include hospice care including family support. Geographic restrictions apply.

To be eligible for the hospice program, a person must have a confirmed diagnosis of a terminal illness and have a life expectancy of 6 months or less. A person living at home must have a full-time caregiver to render services or a plan to obtain a caregiver when needed. The patient must have an understanding that the continuing therapy will be palliative rather than curative in nature. Palliative care is aggressive treatment of physical and emotional pain and symptoms. The treatment focuses on enhancing a patient's comfort and overall quality of life and supporting the family through this time.

The program develops an individualized plan of care along with the hospice team, the primary physician, the patient and his or her family. The agency uses an interdisciplinary approach to provide services. These services are provided by the medical director, social workers, RNs, home health aides, LVNs, a registered dietician, the attending physician, a nondenominational chaplain and volunteers. Families who have had a loved one in hospice care pass away may also request bereavement counseling and support group help.