FAQs

No, it is a decision about how to live. Too many resist the idea of hospice care until the very end — only to lose weeks of their lives to pain and uncertainty. Hospice is a choice for relief from pain, comfort for daily living, and control over how to live precious days. Hospice care doesn’t hasten or postpone dying. Just like an obstetrician provides specialized medical expertise and support when we enter the world, hospice provides expertise and support during the last phase of life.

Anyone facing a potentially life-limiting illness should be aware of all the care options, including palliative and hospice care. Palliative care can often be provided at the same time as curative treatments. Knowing when to consider hospice care is important for planning.

No. Most of our patients stay where they are — at home or in another care facility. Your Pikes Peak Hospice care team comes to you and supports your family or other caregivers in meeting your needs and wishes. Should those needs change, Pikes Peak Hospice is the only area hospice provider with an inpatient care unit equipped to manage more serious care needs. Many patients come to our inpatient care unit until they are stabilized, and then return home.

You’ll have an entire team dedicated to your care — doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, certified nursing assistants, counselors, social workers, chaplains, pharmacists, and volunteers. Your Pikes Peak Hospice care team will guide you and your family in developing a plan of care for your unique needs.

It varies from patient to patient, but we work with you to develop a personal care plan built around the patient’s needs. Every patient of Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care has a team of experts assigned to his or her care. Care teams are made up of physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and certified nursing assistants, counselors, chaplains and trained volunteers. Caregivers are taught to provide for patient needs. We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide the support you need.

Hospice includes help for caregivers in the form of training and emotional support. In addition, Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative care provides 13 months of bereavement support following the death of a family member.

Yes. That is our unique expertise and focus. The doctors and care teams at Pikes Peak Hospice specialize in “palliation” — which is another way of saying pain and symptom management. Just as a cardiologist knows more about heart disease than a general practitioner, so too, is a palliative care physician specially trained in pain relief. Our teams are trained to manage complex symptoms of any disease. Your comfort is our immediate and ongoing goal. Medications and other therapies are adjusted with continual evaluation: as your needs change, so does your plan of care.

Hospice care is about living. We work to find the right balance for every patient, relieving pain without sacrificing alertness. This requires constant consulting with the patient and family, and sometimes regular adjustments to medication or other treatments.

Patients are admitted to Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care with a physician referral. We can help get this authorization if needed.

No. If a patient’s condition improves or if the patient and family so choose they can be discharged from hospice care. If the discharged patient should later need to return to hospice care, they can resume services.

No. Training, expertise, standards, level of personal attention, and availability of volunteers and complementary therapies can all vary widely. When you’re considering hospice care, ask lots of questions and make sure you understand all your options, as well as the experience and reputation of the hospice providers available.

We are a not-for-profit hospice and palliative care provider and have been operating in the Pikes Peak region since 1980. We are here for and because of this community. We are not charged with providing a profit to shareholders, have the full support of a foundation, and pride ourselves on providing a deeper, more personal level of care to our patients, and to handle even the most complex cases.

The hospice benefit covers all care related to a patient’s terminal diagnosis. This includes routine home visits by a nurse, social worker, chaplain and certified nursing assistant. Other members of the hospice care team include a dietitian, volunteer, pharmacist and hospice medical director. A physical and occupational therapist may be consulted. If appropriate, the hospice benefit also covers all medications related to the terminal diagnosis are covered, along with medical supplies, equipment and some personal care items. Nutritional supplements as directed by the dietician or physician are also covered.

While not all hospices offer integrative therapies, Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care provides music and art therapy, massage, aromatherapy, comfort touch and Reiki, and animal activity visits. Learn more about Complementary Therapies.

First, the patient’s physician agrees that hospice care is appropriate and makes a referral to hospice. Then, The Pikes Peak team makes an appointment to visit the patient and conduct a hospice assessment. Once the patient or the patient’s healthcare decision maker signs a consent form, Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care will begin discussing a hospice plan of care with the patient and family members. This plan may include using some of our complementary therapies such as music therapy, massage, aromatherapy, Reiki, and pet therapy. Learn more about Our Complementary Therapies

People diagnosed with life-limiting illness – including but not limited to cardiac disease, dementia, cancer, kidney disease, neurological disease or pulmonary disease.

To determine if a loved one might benefit from Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care, ask and answer the following questions:

• Does your loved one have uncontrolled pain?
• Does your loved one have increased shortness of breath?
• Does your loved one require assistance with routine daily activities?
• Has there been weight loss, loss of appetite or difficulty swallowing?
• Have there been frequent visits to the hospital (including the Emergency Department) or doctor’s office?
• Has your loved one been falling frequently?
• Has your loved one been getting frequent infections?
• Has your loved one become incontinent?
• Is most of your loved one’s day spent in a chair or bed?
• Have you shifted focus from treatment to comfort care and enhancing quality of life?
• Has the doctor told you or do you believe that the disease progression is nearing its final stages?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, it’s time to call Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care to learn more about what hospice can do for you and your loved one.

Hospice patients can improve and “graduate” from hospice. When a hospice patient’s condition changes for the better, the patient is discharged from hospice for “extended prognosis”. The patient can return to any medical treatment they choose.

Yes, hospice expertise is in pain management related to a life-limiting, terminal illness.