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GENTIVA HOSPICE with MICHELE FRAHLEY · One on One With a Professional

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  Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
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  He needs time now for one on one with the pro, and our
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  pro is Michelle from Gentiva Hospice Services, and it's always great to have you
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  here because we learn so much. Hospice is something that people hear the word,
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  they don't really quite fully understand in many cases, and they don't know
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  really what to expect. And that's why we're here today because we're playing twelve
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  questions for the show. That's right, That's why we're going to either talk
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  about the dirty dozen, the Terrific twelve, the top twelve, whatever.
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  We probably won't get through all twelve today, but we'll do as many as
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  we can and we'll continue on next time. So first question, lightning round,
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  Okay, what is hospice? I love that I get quite asked that
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  all the time, and I'm just going to give you the definition. By
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  definition, hospice care is a plan, an advanced plan of care in which
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  we focus on the patient and their needs and the needs of their family and
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  not on curing or treating a specific disease process. So it is comfort care.
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  It is to give the patient comfort and pe in their final days.
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  A better quality of life and also improve the life of their family because we're
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  get there to give them some support and help as well. Who's eligible for
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  hospice Anybody is eligible who has been given a terminal diagnosis and they're not seeking
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  treatment for it, or for whom their treatment is no longer effective or it's
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  making them uncomfortable and they decide they don't want to do treatment anymore. So
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  a physician has to declare basically that if this disease ran its normal course,
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  the patient may be within a six month window of lifetime. But that's like
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  a very vague thing, like no one really knows a time frame on life.
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  So basically, it is someone who has a terminal illness for which they're
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  not seeking treatment, and when should we start. When we get to that
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  phase where it's very much into the end phase, well you don't want to
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  wait too long. Most people were finding wait very very late in the process.
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  Hospice is not just for the last few days of life as it once
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  was. The earlier you can get on hospice service, the better it is
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  for the patient and for their family because Hospice Gentiva Hospice takes a full team
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  approach to patient and family care, and we're taking care of not only the
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  patient, but they're families. So we're educating the family, we're giving them
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  support, we're providing them with extra resources for anything that they might need,
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  and we're there just to really make sure that they know that they're not alone,
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  so the family can actually be the family member and not have to be
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  the primary caregiver all the time. So the earlier on the process, the
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  earlier we can get someone on hospice care, their outcomes are better, their
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  quality of life improves, the family satisfaction is improved, and it really is
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  better on earlier is way better than later. And that kind of gets to
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  our next question. You know, what does hospice do besides give the family
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  a better outcome for a very dire situation. Lots of things hospice can do.
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  So hospice does come in and provide nursing visits. Gentiva Hospice provide nurses,
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  provides nursing visits twice a week, at least twice a week for all
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  of our patients. We have home health aids that can come in and help
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  with personal care. Also provide a chaplain to help with emotional and spiritual support
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  and bereavement and grieving with the family following the passing of the loved one.
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  Social worker that can come in and help with those additional resources in the community,
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  help with any kind of family dynamics. If there's in a strange spouse
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  or if there's you know, something in the family that's there's been a rift,
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  she can come in and kind of help kind of bridge that gap,
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  you know, bowl that's right. And then we also have volunteers that can
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  come in and just sort of you know, sit with the patient, or
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  play cards, or run some errands, do some light housekeeping. We just
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  have it's a full, full approach to patient and family care. We also
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  provide equipment if the patient needs any kind of medical equipment, a hospital bed,
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  a wheelchair, walker, if they need oxygen, if they need if
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  they're on tube feedings and they need this, the formula for the tube feedings,
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  we cover that, wound care supplies. There's a ton of things that
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  hospice can do. And then we also, like I said, provide their
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  medications, and we're not there necessarily to administer them every day, but we
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  do provide them and teach the family how to better care for their loved one.
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  Now, hospice services are different depending on where you look and what you're
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  looking for. Where does Gentiva hospice take place? Is it a building we
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  where do we go? Okay? So hospice is not a place. It
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  is actually a plan of care. Okay, So it can be. You
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  can have hospice services anywhere that you call home, anywhere that's considered home.
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  So we have patients in nursing facilities, we have patients in independent independent living
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  facilities. We have patients that live, you know, in a senior apartment
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  complex. We have patients that live in memory care buildings. Any place a
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  patient calls home, that's where they receive the hospice care. Now, at
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  one point, I know that there was a patient that was homeless and the
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  hospice care provider did his visits at his under his bridge, where he considered
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  home. So it's absolutely about out keeping that patient comfortable and in their familiar
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  surroundings when possible, and we'll go to wherever you are. So hospice care
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  can take place anywhere the patient calls home. Okay. When we age and
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  become very seasoned citizens, you start thinking about things like this, can this
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  hospice service be part of your plan directives. It can, and it absolutely
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  should. We've talked before about anyone who's over the age of eighteen should start
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  having an advanced directive, and that's just sort of an end of life plan,
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  what your goals are, what your desires are for yourself, and it
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  just makes it easier when those times come. You already have your desires written
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  down and it can be changed. It can change every day, and it
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  doesn't have to be anything official. It doesn't have to be notarized or signed
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  by a lawyer or anything like that. It's just your wish is written down
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  on paper. And it is absolutely important to include what your desire is for
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  hospice care or end of life care in your advance directive because then your family
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  doesn't have to make those decisions for you. They can already know what your
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  goals are. You know, for example, I at my age, if
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  I were to get cancer, I would certainly want to pursue all kinds of
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  treatment. I've got grandkids I want to see grow up and all that,
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  you know, so I would want to see treatment. However, someone who
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  maybe say they're in their early nineties, if they get diagnosed with cancer they're
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  probably not going to want to seek treatments because the treatment is going to be
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  more detrimental and more uncomfortable than the disease process itself for someone at that age.
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  So those kinds of things you can put in your advance directive make it
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  very well known, very clear, so that when those times come, people
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  already know what your desires are and they don't have to go, well,
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  I think mom would want this, or I think Dad would want this.
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  It's already right there in paper. Their expressed wishes at been expressed. That's
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  right. When it comes to the end of life, when we're in hospice
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  care, some people are of the mind that that means that you've throw all
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  the medicines out and you just kind of wait for the angels to take you
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  away. That's not necessary. That's not necessary. No, So when you
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  get on the hospice care plan, the only medications that you have to stop
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  taking is any medication that is directly related to extending your life based on that
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  diagnosis. So here's the best example I can think of. There are people
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  who take a chemo pill. If we put someone on hospice care for cancer,
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  they no longer can take that chemo pill because that's considered aggressive treatment for
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  their terminal illness. Okay, in order to qualify for hospice, you have
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  to not be seeking aggressive treatment for your terminal illness. So they can take
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  any other medications. Blood pressure medications are absolutely fine, any kind of medications
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  for asthma or whatever, things like that. Anything that they need that keeps
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  their quality of life high, they can take it. We're just not going
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  to actively pursue any kind of treatment for their terminal illness. We're speaking with
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  Michelle here insues with Gentba hospice services and how much does the hospice service cost?
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  I love to hear that question. I tell people all the time.
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  I'm explaining the service of the hospice. I'm giving them all the benefits,
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  telling them what we can do for them, and then I say, what
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  do you think about that? Does that sound like a good idea? And
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  I always hear, oh my gosh, that sounds amazing. How much is
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  this going to cost me? And the best part about hospice care is that
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  it doesn't cost you a thing. Medicare covers hospice one hundred percent. So
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  if you've ever worked, if you've ever paid into the Medicare system and you
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  have if you have Medicare age, you have a Medicare number. Medicare is
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  going to cover the cost of hospice one hundred percent, even if you have
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  a Medicare replacement plan. A lot of people have said, well, I
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  don't have Medicare anymore, I've got this Medicare replacement plan for the hospice benefit.
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  This is very important. For the hospice benefit, only traditional Medicare takes
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  over, So this is the one time in the healthcare business where you're a
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  care replacement plan gets flipped back to traditional Medicare for payment, so one hundred
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  percent coverage. Medicaid also covers hospice care, so if you don't have Medicare,
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  you're on Medicaid, it also covers it. Most traditional insurances commercial insurances
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  have a hospice benefit provided in there too, so it really there's there's no
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  downside to accepting the treatment of hospice care because it doesn't cost you anything that
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  it's absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain. Now, when we talk
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  about hospice, we're talking about people who come to usy in your home,
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  taking care of this, that or the other. But Are they going to
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  be my house guest. No, they're not going to be your house guests.
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  They're not gonna right for a friend. There are people who have thought
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  or had the misconception that hospice is twenty four to seven care. Now,
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  we do have a nurse that's available twenty four to seven, we do have
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  on call. We have staff that's available to come out and do a visit
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  if that's necessary, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
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  But it is not someone in your home twenty four to seven. So what
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  that what hospice care does is it provides you access to a nurse twenty four
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  hours a day and a planned visit twice a week. Gentiva does twice a
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  week nurse visits, so you have those scheduled visit times, but you also
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  have access to someone twenty four to seven, so it's not someone in your
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  home twenty four to seven. If that's the kind of care that a patient
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  needs, we can connect them with the other other sources in the community that
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  provide that kind of care, but that's not something that hospice provides per se.
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  We can connect them with those kinds of those kinds of providers, you
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  know, agencies. Now, another good thing to keep in mind is that
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  if the patient's needs change where they can no longer live at home or wherever
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  they were living when hospice services started, if they have to go then move
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  into a nursing home or you know, assisted living, anything like that,
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  hospice goes with them. They don't forego their hospice care to move into a
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  facility, nor do they have to be in a facility to get hospice care.
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  So those are a couple of things that are real important to know.
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  So once someone's on hospice, we're going to follow them wherever they go.
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  As long as they're eligible, and as long as they continue to want our
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  services, we're going to be there to take care of them. Speaking of
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  services, Geniva, you're available anywhere people can hear our voice. Yes,
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  correct, that's right, that's right anywhere. We're everywhere. We're like Santa
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  Claus, We're everywhere, you know, So anywhere that anybody needs help,
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  they can just call me and I can connect them with the proper office.
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  We have offices all over Kansas. We have several here in Oklahoma. I
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  mean they're everywhere. I just say Kansas because I know that's you know,
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  they're right close Arkansas, all the neighboring states. So anybody that if you
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  if listeners here or know of someone who might be in need of our service,
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  all they got to do is call me. They could just call me
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  directly. Nine one eight for zero four six eight nine nine. I'll say
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  it again, nine one eight for zero four six eight nine nine. I'm
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  Michelle with Gintiva Hospice and I can hook you up. And we have a
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  website the case you might have missed something, you can look at your leisure
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  and go through it at your own speed. Yes, the website is Gentiva
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  HS. That is g E N T I v A h s dot com.
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  One last question. You didn't think we were going to get through that?
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  I didn't think. I think we got through ten. There's a few
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  more we'll talk about next time. Okay, all right, well you gotta
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  got the next episode. That's right, that's your next episode coming up here.
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  But once again, Gentiva Hospice Service. Just look at it, Just
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  put it in your Google search and you'll be able to get it and you'll
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  be able to get a hold of Michelle and about you know, it's about
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  any old time and shall I answer you your questions and tell you how this
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  all works again and also give you a bit of a game plan and help
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  you out on just about anything that you might have on your mind, because
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  that's what we're here to do, is to take your worries away. That's
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  exactly right. Yeah. If a patient isn't for the hospice benefit, I
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  can certainly connect them with other resources. I mean, I'm here to help
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  people. That's what I do. I love to help people and to bring
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  joy into some sad times, and so reach out to me. I can
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  connect you with the home health provider if that's what's what you need, or
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  private duty, or if you just need someone to you know, maybe volunteer
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  and come in and just sit. I want to help people out. So
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  if you've got a question, give me a call. All right, once
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  again? What your phone number? Give it a couple of times again,
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  okay nine one eight four zero four six' eight nine nine nine one eight
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  four zero four six' eight nine nine. I'm Michelle with Gentiva, and
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  she answers her phone. I know this. So thank you very much Michelle
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  for being here today and thanks for clearing up a lot of questions. People
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  have concerns about. Absolutely, it's my pleasure.