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GENTIVA HOSPICE · One on One With a Professional

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Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
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It's time for one on one with the pro. How are you doing,
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young lady, Good morning, I am doing fantastic. Well. You
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know, whenever we talk about Gentiva hospice, people have more questions and you
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have all the answers, at least more answers than the average person. And
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today we're going to kind of follow along with something we've been doing the last
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several episodes. So what are we doing today? Today? We're going to
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talk about a few signs that it might be time to consider hospice. Okay,
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that's a question that I get asked frequently is how do we know when
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it's time? So we're going to talk about a few signs. There's about
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nine I'm going to go over today, and these aren't all inclusive, but
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they certainly will give you some ideas of what that time might look like.
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Okay, let's start out with number one. Number one is a person's treatment
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is no longer working or they no longer desire in our active intervention. Okay,
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so maybe they are. If it's a cancer patient, for example,
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their chemotherapy is no longer working for them, or they have decided that the
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treatment is no longer feasible. They're not comfortable with how they feel about the
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treatment, so they they decide they don't want to do that anymore. So
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that would be one indicator. Or if someone who has heart condition, maybe
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they're maximally medically treated, they're taking the maximum medication that they can be given
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and they're still having symptoms, that would be an example of the treatment no
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longer working. My father did that the cancer treatment was going nowhere and he
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didn't like it, and he just said, you know, let's do this,
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Let's go for some quality life over quantity. And you know what,
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he lived every last second to the hilt too. Absolutely. What do we
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have for number two? Number two is a person's symptoms are getting harder to
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manage. Now, this would be something like maybe they're going to the er
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more frequently to for symptom exacerbation. See this a lot with patients with pulmonary
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issues. They're going to the er because they're having shorter breaths shortness of breath,
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or they're going to the er because their edema is too great for them
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to handle, it's too painful, or their medication isn't working. Anymore.
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So, symptoms of getting harder to manage is another indicator that it might be
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time to consider hospice. Maybe they're going to the hospital a lot, being
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hospitalized, having a hospital stay, and that leads into number three, which
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is they're visiting the doctor or the hospital more frequently. So when you see
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that, why are they going to the hospital more often? Why are they
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going to their doctor more frequently, It's probably because their symptoms are harder to
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manage for them at home. That's something that Gentiva Hospice can come in and
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help manage those symptoms at home and keep them from having to go to the
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er and using the er for an urgent care. Basically, the R is
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there for trauma, for emergencies, and a lot of folks are using the
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er for their symptom management, symptom exacerbation, and those are things that hospice
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care can take care of right there in their home. Boy, you want
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to talk about something that calms down not only the patient, at the entire
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household absolutely knowing that we can come in and take care of them all of
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their needs right there at home. They don't have to go to the er,
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they don't have to go to the hospital. They don't have to go
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to their doctor's office, you know, two or three times a week,
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or even call their doctor's office so often, because they have a nurse that
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they can call and we'll come out there and take care whatever their needs are
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right there at home. Gentiva Hospice offers a lot of care for a lot
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of people. I'm going to just kind of interrupt right now. But because
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we've got a great footprint here in the area, not only right here in
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Oklahoma, but also in Kansas. Absolutely, yes, we have. I
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think there's six locations in the Kansas area, so pretty much all of your
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listening area is covered. If you can hear my voice, you're going to
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be covered by a Gentiva Hospice provider in your area. So, and how
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do we get a hold of you. The best way to get a hold
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of me is just to call me on the phone. It's nine one eight
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four zero four six eight nine nine. That's my direct line, and I
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can connect you with whichever office is closest to your location. Well, key,
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very good. What's next on our list of signs that it might be
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time to consider Gentiva? Okay, the next one is a patient is needing
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a lot more help than they used to. Now this is pretty broad,
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but when you think about it, I'm going to break it down a little
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bit. But in order for someone to be eligible for a hospice benefit,
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they need to be dependent on at least two what's called ad l's, and
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that stands for activities of daily living. There are six of those. It's
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bathing, dressing, feeding, transfers, toileting, and ambulation. So when
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I say they need to have if they're dependent on at least two of those,
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it doesn't mean that they're one hundred percent dependent on. That doesn't mean
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like I have to feed you with the spoon. But if someone used to
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be able to feed by themselves, you know, just sit down and have
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a meal. And now I notice this a lot with my grandmother. As
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her dementia progressed, she would come to the table and sit down, but
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didn't really know what to do next. Yeah, and so my mom would
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have to say to her, you know, pick up your spoon, put
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it into your oat meal, you know, and have to give her cues.
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So she was not able to to feed independently. She needed help with
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that same thing with dressing. There's an example My mom always tells about my
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grandmother how she knew it was time that the dementia had progressed enough. Was
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they were getting ready for church one morning. My grandmother was living with my
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parents at the time because she couldn't live alone, and they were getting ready
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for church, and my grandmother had always been able to get ready in her
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little apartment and then you know, come in. They'd all go to church
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together, and she came out to go to church and she had her dress
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on for church, but she had her slip on the outside. A yeah,
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it's like, well, you got dressed correctly, but not quite correctly,
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not completely. So that was an indicator that she could dress by herself,
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but she couldn't dress accurately by herself. So we see that a lot.
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Sometimes people will say, well, you know, yeah, my dad
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can get dressed by himself, where he can shower by himself. But what
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they really mean is I have to be in there and say, okay,
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you know, get your hair wet, and I put some shampoo in your
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hand. You have to give them cues. So when I say that they're
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dependent on at least two of those activities of daily living, it doesn't mean
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that you have to do it for them. It means that they cannot do
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it completely alone. Okay, understood. That's good clarity, excellently And we
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see that a lot, right, and we don't want to see it as
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caretakers, we don't want to see it. That's right. And sometimes that
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one gets missed. Yes, And that's one thing. I mean, if
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you're seeing that they need a lot more help, that's an indicator it might
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be time to consider it. And a lot of times it might be a
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subtle thing like they used to be able to, you know, walk independently
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down the hallway and go from bedroom to kitchen. And now you see them
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we call it furniture surfing or wall surfing where they're holding on to something with
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every step. It's because they feel unsteady on their feet or they're unsure,
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you know whatever. And so that is an indicator of decline in their embulation,
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their ability to move around. They're doing it differently than they used to.
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So thanks for these explanations. I can tell right now this is helping
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a lot of people. Good. I hope it does. I hope it
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does. What's next our list Number five is they often seem confused or restless.
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Now that stands to reason with someone that has a dementia issue, but
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this could also be someone that that doesn't have a dementia diagnosis. You're sitting
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right across from something. So a lot of times what we see with especially
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with elderly patients, is that when they get any kind of infection, whether
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they get a uti, a little touch of pneumonia, any kind of infection
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will affect their cognition a little bit. So they may get more confused,
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they may get agitated. Sometimes they get a little bit aggressive, and it's
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not because they're really angry at you. It's just that that's what's happening in
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their situation, right, And the fact that they have some infection in their
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body is affecting that part of their brain that handles that that you know,
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kind of regulates their behavior and stuff. So when you see someone get more
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confused, it could be a medication related issue, it could be it could
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even be nutritional. But anytime you see a change in their overall demeanor,
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you know they're they're checking in with reality, if you would. That could
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be an indicator that we need to look at them. For Gentiva to come
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out and do a hospice evaluation, or if they get restless GENTIBA hospices are
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sponsored today as we have our one on one with the pro and we're looking
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at signs that a patient may need to consider Intuba hospice. Number six is
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they're less able to communicate. Now, this can be It could be lots
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of different ways that their communication could be affected. It could be thought disruption.
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They're they're kind of like what I just experienced. Now, we're talking
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about something, and all of a sudden they lose the word, they just
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forget what they're talking about. Or it could be that they have what I
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call squirrel thoughts. They'll be talking about one thing and then all of a
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sudden they jump over here, and then they jump over here, kind of
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like an ad D brain. They call it ADHD brain whatever. But if
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they're less able to communicate, sometimes it even is as simple as just a
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blank look on their face, like you ask them a question and they just
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kind of stare at you, like I don't it's not registering like that.
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My grandmother would say, the lights are on, but nobody's home, and
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so sometimes you'll see that. You know, with communication, most of the
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time what you see is they'll be able to answer a question, but it
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may not be answered appropriately. For example, we had a patient at one
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point who when she spoke, she sounded like she made complete sense. For
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example, her sentence might be, yes, isn't it amazing how somebody can
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make chocolate chip cookies that taste so good? Now, that sounds like a
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normal statement, But what the question was asked to her was you know something
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like what is your favorite color? What is your favorite activity to do?
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So she would say something, and out of context it sounded perfectly fine,
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but when you put it in the context of the conversation, it made no
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sense at all. So she was answering the question, but she answering the
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question. Yes, she was answering a question, right, she was communicating.
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So it can be the they're not able to communicate correctly, or again,
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they're just less able to communicate. They can't make their words, or
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their brain and their mouth don't work together to form the correct words. Sometimes
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it comes out astell, unintelligible, sounds wow. So less able to communicate.
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That's another are number seven we might need to evaluate you. The next
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one is they don't have much appetite or they're losing weight. We'll see a
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lot of times there's really no indication of why, but maybe a patient just
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just they just stop eating. They lose their appetite. Sometimes it can be
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because they're having trouble swallowing, and they don't want to tell you that,
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so they just stop eating because they know that when they try to swallow,
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they're going to get choked or something's going to happen. So they just stop
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eating. And they'll say, I'm not hungry, or you know, I'm
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not you know, I already ate, or something like that. So you'll
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notice some weight loss. I have noticed the avoidance of food when someone is
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toward that part of life, and I've never understood that because I never got
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a straight answer from the person. Well, there's a couple of answers for
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that. So as a person gets closer to their end of life, the
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body doesn't it no longer requires food. It kind of shuts down. There's
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really there's no need to intake be body and calories because you're not going to
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use them. Right, But that's really that's way way into the process.
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That's closer. But I'm talking about someone who early on, you know,
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you just notice that they're losing weight, or they just stop eating, or
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they lose interest in going out to dinner or things like that. And there's
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lots of different reasons why. Like I said, it could be just what
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they call this phasia, which is difficulty swallowing, or it could be that
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they just they've got some other issues going on. Maybe they've got some stomach
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issues and they know that if they eat anything it's going to make them uncomfortable,
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they're going to have some pain, so they stop eating. And what
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else do we have. We've got two more. Number one is that they
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sleep much of the time. Anytime you see a person who's increased sleep patterns,
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like significantly increased, I'm talking about maybe they used to take an hour
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nap in the afternoon and then sleep all night from eight to eight, you
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know whatever. And now you notice that they're sleeping from eight to eight,
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but they're also sleeping from ten to twelve, and then they eat lunch and
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they want to take an afternoon nap from two to five and get up and
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taken you know, eat a little bit of dinner, and then they going
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back to bed at eight. So if they're sleeping much of the time,
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there's a reason why their body is requiring that much rest, or they're trying
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to check out because they're not comfortable with whatever's going on. So there's lots
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of reasons why they might sleep more of the time. But if you notice
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someone is sleeping a lot more of the time, that's an indicator. And
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what's our last one here for you might need Gentiva Hospice now more than yes.
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The last one is one that I think really gets overlooked. This is
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their main caregiver is feeling stressed or overwhelmed. And we see this a lot
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because especially when someone is taking care of their parent and they promised them,
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you know, I promise not to put you in a nursing home, or
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I promise you know, I'm going to take care of you. It gets
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very, very difficult to admit that we're stressed as a caregiver, that I'm
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overwhelmed, that I can't do this anymore, you know. And so when
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that happens, when the caregiver is feeling completely overwhelmed and completely stressed out and
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like I just can't do this anymore, I don't know what to do,
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that is time to call in Gentiva to do an evaluation on that patient see
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if we can get them on hospice care. Because when hospice can come in
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and take over the role as primary caregiver, now the family can be the
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daughter, the son, the husband, the wife. They can be that
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family member and no longer have to have the stress and overwhelming sensation of being
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the primary caregiver one hundred percent of the time. This has been great information.
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Remember, Gentiva Hospice is available anywhere within our listing area. That's right,
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give us tell us how to get a hold of you one more time.
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The best way to get a hold of me is to use my cell
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number. Just call me directly nine one eight for zero four six eight nine
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nine nine one eight four zero four six eight nine nine. This is Michelle
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with Gentiva Hospice. Hi, thanks for listening to one an anomal professional A
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paid presentation in fourteen hundred K one h