To the editor:
Every November High Peaks Hospice & Palliative Care extends our outreach to our community to raise awareness about the compassionate care that we provide individuals and their families coping with serious and life-limiting illness. This month of awareness provides an opportunity for us to remind people that hospice care and palliative care helps to focus on living.
This may surprise you.
Those of us who work in hospice have seen firsthand how our care can improve the quality of life. And research shows that families report a better quality of life under hospice and palliative care. To further the surprise, there’s a growing body of research showing that hospice and palliative care often prolongs the lives of some people who receive care.
The hospice team provides expert and compassionate medical care to keep patients comfortable, enabling patients to enjoy time with loved ones. The hospice team answers questions, offers advice on what to expect, and helps families with being a caregiver. The team also provides emotional and spiritual support for the entire family.
With the help of hospice, patients and families alike can focus on what’s most important – enjoying life together and living as fully as possible.
This important message lasts beyond the month of November and is important all year round.
If you or a loved one is facing a serious or life-limiting illness, the time to find out more about hospice and palliative care is right now, as soon as a terminal diagnosis is made.
No one should face passing on alone, in pain, and afraid.
Shawn Galbreath
Executive Director
High Peaks Hospice &
Palliative Care, Saranac Lake
