Icare Hospice
Icare Hospice
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  • What is Hospice
    • Eligibility & Criteria
    • Alzheimer's Disease
    • Congestive Heart Failure
    • End-Stage Renal Disease
    • Parkinson's Disease
    • Cerebrovascular Accident
    • Other Hospice Diagnoses
  • Services
    • Levels of Care
    • Skilled Nursing Care
    • Hospice Aide Services
    • Durable Medical Equipment
    • Supplies
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    • Mission
    • Meet Our Team
    • Contact Us
  • Tiếng Việt
    • Tiếng Việt
    • Dịch vụ
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  • More
    • Home
    • What is Hospice
      • Eligibility & Criteria
      • Alzheimer's Disease
      • Congestive Heart Failure
      • End-Stage Renal Disease
      • Parkinson's Disease
      • Cerebrovascular Accident
      • Other Hospice Diagnoses
    • Services
      • Levels of Care
      • Skilled Nursing Care
      • Hospice Aide Services
      • Durable Medical Equipment
      • Supplies
    • About Us
      • Mission
      • Meet Our Team
      • Contact Us
    • Tiếng Việt
      • Tiếng Việt
      • Dịch vụ
      • Nhóm làm việc

  • Home
  • What is Hospice
    • Eligibility & Criteria
    • Alzheimer's Disease
    • Congestive Heart Failure
    • End-Stage Renal Disease
    • Parkinson's Disease
    • Cerebrovascular Accident
    • Other Hospice Diagnoses
  • Services
    • Levels of Care
    • Skilled Nursing Care
    • Hospice Aide Services
    • Durable Medical Equipment
    • Supplies
  • About Us
    • Mission
    • Meet Our Team
    • Contact Us
  • Tiếng Việt
    • Tiếng Việt
    • Dịch vụ
    • Nhóm làm việc

Other Hospice Diagnoses

Hospice Diagnoses

 

While Alzheimer's, CHF, ESRD, Parkinson's, and CVA are very common, hospice provides care for a wide array of life-limiting conditions. Here's a list of other frequent hospice diagnoses, with a brief explanation of each condition and the role hospice plays:


Other Common Hospice Diagnoses

  • Cancer
    • Condition: Cancer involves the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells, forming tumors that can invade and destroy healthy body tissue. In its end stages, cancer often becomes resistant to curative treatments and can cause severe pain, fatigue, nausea, weight loss, and other debilitating symptoms as it spreads (metastasizes) to vital organs.
    • Hospice Role: Hospice care for cancer patients focuses on aggressive symptom management, particularly pain control, nausea, and shortness of breath, using a combination of medications and complementary therapies. The team also supports patients in navigating the physical decline, assists with daily living tasks, and provides emotional and spiritual counseling to the patient and family as they cope with the advanced illness and anticipatory grief.
  • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
    • Condition: COPD is a progressive lung disease that makes it hard to breathe, encompassing conditions like emphysema and chronic bronchitis. In its end stages, patients experience severe and persistent shortness of breath (dyspnea) even at rest, frequent respiratory infections, and a significant decline in lung function, leading to a diminished quality of life and often recurrent hospitalizations.
    • Hospice Role: Hospice care for COPD prioritizes relieving breathlessness, often using oxygen therapy, nebulizers, and medications (including low-dose opioids and anxiolytics) to ease breathing and anxiety. The team also manages cough, fatigue, and provides education on energy conservation techniques, helping patients maintain comfort and independence for as long as possible while reducing distressing hospital visits.
  • End-Stage Liver Disease (ESLD)
    • Condition: ESLD occurs when the liver is so severely damaged (often by cirrhosis due to hepatitis, alcoholism, or fatty liver disease) that it can no longer perform its essential functions. Symptoms can include severe fatigue, jaundice (yellow skin/eyes), ascites (fluid buildup in the abdomen), encephalopathy (confusion due to toxin buildup), bleeding disorders, and recurrent infections.
    • Hospice Role: Hospice care for ESLD focuses on managing symptoms like ascites (often requiring paracentesis), pain, pruritus (itching), nausea, and the neurological symptoms of encephalopathy. The team also provides dietary guidance for comfort, assists with personal care, and offers extensive support to patients and families coping with the often unpredictable and distressing course of liver failure.
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) / Lou Gehrig's Disease
    • Condition: ALS is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks the nerve cells that control voluntary muscles. It leads to progressive muscle weakness, paralysis, difficulty speaking (dysarthria), swallowing (dysphagia), and eventually breathing difficulties, while typically sparing cognitive function (though some may develop frontotemporal dementia).
    • Hospice Role: Hospice care for ALS is highly specialized, focusing on managing the rapid and severe physical decline. This includes aggressive symptom control for muscle cramps, pain, and spasticity, providing respiratory support (e.g., oxygen, BiPAP) for dyspnea, and managing swallowing difficulties to prevent aspiration. The hospice team also provides extensive durable medical equipment, personal care assistance, and psychological support to both the patient (who often remains cognitively aware) and family as they face profound physical losses.
  • HIV/AIDS
    • Condition: While advances in treatment have transformed HIV into a manageable chronic condition for many, individuals with end-stage AIDS experience severe immune suppression, leading to opportunistic infections, cancers, neurological complications (e.g., HIV-associated dementia), wasting syndrome, and multi-organ failure.
    • Hospice Role: Hospice care for end-stage HIV/AIDS focuses on managing chronic pain, severe fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, and infections. The team provides aggressive symptom control, nutritional support for wasting, psychological counseling to address stigma, fear, and social isolation, and support for complex medication regimens, aiming to enhance comfort and dignity in the final stages of the disease.
  • Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
    • Condition: MS is a chronic, often unpredictable disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, disrupting the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body. While its course is highly variable, in its severe, progressive forms, MS can lead to extreme immobility, chronic pain, severe fatigue, dysphagia, bladder/bowel dysfunction, cognitive impairment, and recurrent infections.
    • Hospice Role: Hospice care for advanced MS focuses on managing intractable pain (neuropathic, spasticity-related), severe fatigue, bladder/bowel issues, and preventing skin breakdown. The team provides physical therapy for comfort and positioning, addresses swallowing difficulties, manages recurrent infections, and offers comprehensive emotional support to patients and families coping with severe disability and unpredictable symptom flares.

 

By providing comprehensive, compassionate, and holistic care, hospice helps individuals in the advanced stages of their illnesses to navigate this challenging time with the greatest possible comfort, dignity, and support.


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