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Gentiva Hospice 7-23-2024 · One on One With a Professional

• 0:14
  And good morning, and welcome back to our one on one with a professional
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  today on this Tuesday, I'm Nathan Thompson and for Tom Davis, and today
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  we are talking with Michelle Freeley with Genteeva Hospice. Good morning, Michelle,
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  how are you? Good morning? I'm doing great. It's a beautiful morning
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  out there today, it absolutely is. It's a little bit foggy this morning.
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  Is I came into work at well, you know, three p forty
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  five this morning, but it's cleared out. Gonna be a nice day,
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  about to ninety degrees today. So Michelle, you arguing with that Gentiva Hospice,
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  And for those who are unfamiliar with what hospice care is, kind of
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  tell us what that all entails. Absolutely, I'll give you the actual definition
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  of the word hospice care or words hospice care. So, by definition,
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  hospice is an advanced plan of care in which we focus on the needs of
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  the patient and the needs of their family instead of focusing on curing or treating
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  a specific disease. So it is absolutely one a plan of care where the
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  patient is the focus. Sure, and not only is a patient to focus
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  on that, but it also it gives that respite for those who care for
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  absolutely a member's home health, whatever it might be. Yes, it really
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  provides. It gives the family a chance to just be the family again and
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  not have to be the primary caregiver because they've got someone else coming in there.
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  We've got a team of hospice trained professionals coming in there to provide all
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  the care, the hands on care, the psychosocial, spiritual, emotional,
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  all that support is. It's a full team approach to patient and family care
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  and then the family can really just be the family again. Sure, And
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  you know, I think, Michelle, whenever people talk about hospice end of
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  life care, there's a certain stigma that might be around. Some people might
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  think that's a taboo topic to do so, and I know at Genteeva you
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  do a very good job of breaking down that stigma and doing outreach like this
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  to talk about the benefits of hostile Absolutely, that's exactly what what I'm trying
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  to do is just really let people understand that hospice is not a scary thing.
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  It is absolutely one hundred percent a gift to that patient and their family,
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  and the earlier they can take advantage of that benefit, the better.
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  It's going to be for the patient and the family. It's just there is
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  such a stigma, and I think it's because when hospice was originated way back
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  in the eighties, it was designed specifically for the last seventy two hours of
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  life for patients that had cancer, and it was just designed to keep them
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  out of pain. And we still have that focus. It's still a focus
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  of pain management, comfort and peace, but it encompasses so much more now
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  and it isn't just for the end of life. I hear people frequently say,
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  oh, well, we're not ready for hospice, We're not dying yet.
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  But the truth is, I mean, we're all terminal, right,
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  Nobody gets out of here alive unless the rapture happens. But the truth is,
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  you know, it's it's inevitable when when that time comes. It's very
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  very important to figure out what your goals are, what your plans are,
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  and how you want that patient to have their last their last time on our
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  And there are certainly some benefits to being in hospice. I know you and
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  Tom Davis have have talked about some of those things in the past, but
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  what really are for those who are maybe looking at pre planning, or maybe
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  they're in a situation right now where this is a solution that they need.
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  What are those benefits there's been on hospice. There's so many benefits. I
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  mean, just you know, I couldn't I couldn't probably name them all right
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  now, but I'll give you if you I didnmic a few notes. So
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  one of the things that people see when they have their family member on hospice
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  care is an increase in family and patient satisfaction with how the care progress is,
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  how they're how their days pan out exactly, so better symptom management,
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  better pain control. The patient is less likely to undergo testing and treatments that
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  may not be effective or maybe not even be necessary. But you know,
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  our sick care system instead of a healthcare system where their health care system is
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  designed. They want to treat, they want to treat, they want to
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  treat. Physicians are trained to cure and treat. They're not. They're not
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  really trained to deal with a palliative plan or a comfort plan. And so
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  oftentimes when patients finally do make that decision or families finally make that decision to
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  pursue hospice care, their satisfaction levels increase tremendously. You know, the patient
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  is more comfortable, which makes the family more comfortable, less anxiety, They're
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  able to really enjoy the loved one. Most patients are able to communicate again,
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  you know, they're just when pain and manage. When pain and symptoms
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  are under control, quality of life improves exponentially. So that is to me,
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  that's one of the biggest benefits, is just a better quality of overall,
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  a better overall quality of life. I'm stumbling for with my words today
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  for him reality. May I need more coffee? Yeah? Maybe so maybe
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  so it's you know, looking looking at that again, there's nothing wrong I
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  don't think with making a plan for yourself or for a family member, not
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  waiting until that last minute. You know, I think most of us have
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  all experienced the death of a loved one and it's a difficult subject to breach.
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  So bringing that comfort to the patient, bringing that comfort to the family
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  is I think so important for peace of mind. Absolutely, And I've known
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  some folks and you may correct me here, Michelle, but I've known folks
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  who have been on hospice care for months. Absolutely, yeah, absolutely,
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  there's really no there's no limit to how long they can be on hospice care.
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  President Carter is a prime example. He was, you know, hospice
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  forever and ever it seems like we have several patients who've been with us for
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  over a year. There are guidelines Medicare guidelines say that a patient would be
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  within kind of a six month window, but again that's very, very difficult
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  to determine. I'm not god, I don't have a crystal well, I
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  don't know, but you know what they The term that they use is,
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  you know, within six months if the if the disease runs its normal course.
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  Well, you and I both know there's no normal course for any disease
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  with anybody, because everyone is different, right, So there are things we
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  could go, Hey, look, if this person's dementia continues to progress at
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  the rate in which it's progressing, now, their likelihood, you know,
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  of a six month window is pretty common. But then they last longer.
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  So I guess the point I'm trying to get across is you don't have to
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  only be on hospice for six months. You can be on as long as
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  you continue to qualify, and there's no limit. There's no minimum time of
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  hospice and there's no maximum time. As long as you meet the qualifications,
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  you can still on our care. And we are talking to Michelle Freeley today,
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  healthcare or hospice care consultant with Gentiva Hospice, and we were talking about
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  there's no final timeline here that we at least know of. Of course our
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  creator will know. And I think that might bring up another topic here,
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  because there is a thought amongst some people that hospice may actually speed up the
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  dying process. Is that true? It's absolutely not true. I can see
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  kind of where that idea comes from, because most people on hospice pass right.
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  There are the times when patients actually improve a little bit or stabilize to
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  such an extent that they no longer meet qualifications and so they graduate. But
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  that doesn't happen a lot, you know. But I think where that idea
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  comes from is that patients a lot of times when they're pain and when their
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  pain is under control, their symptoms are managed, they're peaceful, and now
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  they can peacefully has does that make sense to you? So it doesn't facilitate
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  death in any way. It doesn't. It doesn't prolong the dying process,
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  it doesn't shorten the dying process. We're there to let that patient pass naturally
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  and peacefully and in comfort, so that there's no distress, there's no misery,
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  the family isn't distressed, you know, watching them suffer, and it's
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  a peaceful process for everyone. So the answer is no, we do not
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  encourage the dying process. We do not facilitate death. We do not encourage
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  it or speed it up or any of that. But sometimes patients, when
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  they get comfortable, it's like okay, I'm ready. You know, they
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  no longer feel the need to struggle and fight and you know, and continue
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  to just be. I call it misery, you know. But so we
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  don't encourage it. We don't make it go faster, but we do just
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  make it peaceful. And actually, there are some studies that show that people
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  on hospice care live longer than people with those similar conditions that don't have hospice.
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  I think the most recent statistics show like twenty eight to thirty two days
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  longer, which doesn't sound like a long time, but it's a month.
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  And if you're talking about someone that you dearly love, that's a long time.
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  You know it is, and you know that importance of having that comfort.
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  Again, I stress me personally, I stress that when I talk about
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  hospice care, because there is obviously a different way not passing in comfort and
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  bringing that comfort not only to the patient, but again to the family members.
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  I think that that is such an important thing whenever you're looking at end
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  of life care for a loved one. Yes, we've had I've had situations
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  in which the family is sitting here telling me, oh, we're not ready
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  for that yet, We're not ready for hospice yet. And you know,
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  we don't want to give up on dad, and it's not giving up.
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  But then I go in and speak to the patient and tell them what hospice
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  is all about, how we're going to help their family, and the patient
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  said, sign me up. You know, the family is kind of being
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  the ones that are dragging their feet in the like, yes, you know,
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  I want this, I want this for myself, I want this for
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  my family. So it really is, it is all about comfort and peace
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  and and just you know, making it doesn't make the dying process any easier
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  for us as loved ones watching it, but it certainly does make it a
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  lot less scary. Absolutely, absolutely, and again Michelle Freeley with Gentiva Hospice
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  here for those who are listening and maybe are saying, well, maybe I'm
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  in that situation right now, maybe I have a loved one, or maybe
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  I even want to do a bit of pre planning for myself. How does
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  one get started? What are the steps here to get there? And then
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  once it comes time for admission, what is that process like? So how
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  I get started and what is the admission process like? Okay, if you
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  want to pre plan, it's absolutely encouraged that anyone over the age of eighteen
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  have an advanced directive of some sort in which you put in there that you
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  know, I want to be on hospice care. I don't want to be
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  on a feeding tube or you know, life support whatever. You can just
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  actually just write that in to your plan of care that hospice is your is
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  your choice, and so that's all it is for pre planning. It doesn't
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  have to be really elaborate as far as getting someone started. You know,
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  now the first step is just to call me and we'll discuss the situation.
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  I'll find out what's going on with the patient, kind of see what you
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  know, what your goals are, what their goals are. If we feel
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  like hospice is the best option. Then I reach out to their primary care
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  physician or specialist get an order for hospice care. When we send a nurse
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  out to do an evaluation, if the patient meets criteria, we get them
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  started. It's really pretty simple. Yeah, very good. So Michelle,
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  how would one get in contact with you? Just give me a call.
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  The best way to get a hold of me is to call me on my
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  cell. It's nine one eight for zero four six eight nine nine. I'll
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  say that again, nine one eight for zero four six eight nine nine.
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  And I can help people whether they're here in Bartlesville, Tulsa, anywhere.
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  Gentiva is a nationwide company, so I can help connect people with care with
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  care centers all over the nation. I recently have helped a family that moved
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  from Grove to Colorado when we got him on service with our Colorado branch.
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  And it's really it's nice to have one contact so you're not having to have
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  so many different phone numbers and so many people to try to contact you.
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  Guys can just reach out to me and I'll take care of it from there.
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  Well, you know that that is that's a very important benefit as well,
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  because you know, all my family I'm very lucky. All my immediate
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  family lives right here in Bartlesville. But as you just said, if I
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  have a family member who lives out of state in another location, you can
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  be a local contact for them, Absolutely yes, to help direct a course
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  of care during the end of life process. Yep, that's incredible. That's
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  incredible. All right, Michelle, Gentiva Hospice again, give your contact information
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  so that's folks can get in contact with you about this amazing level of care.
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  All right, It's Michelle Frayley my phone number nine one eight four zero
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  four six eight nine nine. I'm with Gentiva Hospice where our place is by
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  your side. Absolutely incredible, Michelle, Thank you so much for coming in
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  today for our one on one call this morning right here on K one,
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  the one True, the one you trust. Alan Krune's forecast is coming up
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  next. Thanks for listening to one on one of the professional a paid presentation
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  in fourteen hundred K one