Hospice care for children is VERY different from Hospice care for adults.
 | Adults are on Hospice usually for the last six months of their lives. |
| Children can be on Hospice care for, sometimes, years. |
Granted, all Hospice organizations are not created equally. However, we LOVE ours: Hospice of the Valley. We have been so grateful for all of the help and support that we've received since we signed up with hospice:
| Our nurse visits us in our home one to three times each week or at least calls us to check in on us. |
| Our pediatrician makes HOME VISITS as a part of the program (because she's not only our pediatrician but also one of the two directors of the pediatric department of Hospice of the Valley), usually about once every six to eight weeks. |
| The pharmacy comes to US! They deliver medicines to our door usually within about 30 hours of our nurse ordering it. But, since we live near their pharmacy, we usually get it the same day on their way to other homes. |
| We have a social worker who visits with us once per month. |
| Whenever we have to order medical equipment through the equipment company, it's taken as long as nine months to get something. Whenever Hospice can order equipment for us, it arrives the next day. |
On the down-side, you'll really have to check with your insurance because once you're on Hospice, you'll generally have to eliminate any care that your insurance considers to be double-coverage. For example, you might not get access to certain treatments, ER visits, or hospitalizations while you're enrolled. You'll have to talk with your insurance, doctors and Hospice program and get enough information about your own circumstances to make a good decision.
For us, however, Hospice has been a real blessing.
NOTE: We are not health care professionals and consider the above comments to be personal reflections on choices we made/make. We accept NO liability for your choices. Talk to your own doctors before making a decision or a change to your son's treatments or care.