A small percentage of Texas Hospice patients do not follow the normal, expected course of decline toward death. Instead, they return to good health after receiving our care. These are our graduates.
A good example was a patient of ours who suffered from dementia. After receiving daily hospice aid visits, music therapy, a cleaner bed and body, and attention from nurses, chaplains and social workers, she began to perk up. She regained some lost speech ability, and began to feed herself again.
In these situations, often the family caregiver receives needed rest. Well-documented studies tell us that caregiving can be so stressful so as bring on heart disease, or even early death. Hospice care goes beyond the patient.
All along, we at our Fort Worth hospice agency monitor our patients’ progress or decline. We praise our Lord when they improve. And, when hospice is no longer appropriate, we help them receive other care, such as what a good home health agency would provide.
The story doesn’t end there. This past week we admitted a patient who had previously been on our service. While we were previously involved in her care, she improved, and we were able to graduate her from hospice. Over the past few months, however, her condition declined, and our services were again needed.
And so, though most of our patients follow a normal hospice course, we are able to see, about once a month, a human being regain health that was lost. It is another facet of hospice that makes the work so fulfilling.
