Most adults in the United States have faced, or will face, difficult, costly, and emotional decisions when arranging care for someone who needs help staying in their home. The U.S. health care system treats each level of care as separate and disconnected from other levels, which can complicate decision-making for families trying to do their best to seek help. .
Families need to understand their loved one's current medical, physical, and social needs and anticipate what they may need in the future. This may mean talking to multiple health care providers, each of whom may be accountable to different licensing boards or quality accreditation bodies. This can be stressful and overwhelming for the average person who just wants to know their mom, dad, grandma, or grandpa is in safe and caring hands.
Fortunately, two long-established and trusted national medical associations have partnered to address gaps in continuity of care for people receiving home care. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the National Association for Home Care & Hospice have created a new organization called the National Alliance for Care at Home. The organization is dedicated to making it easier for families to understand and engage with quality home care agencies. It also helps care providers improve how they work with other agencies that provide similar or next-level services to disabled, elderly, or terminally ill patients. The association “envisions an America where everyone, everywhere, has access to the highest quality, person-centered health care.”
In honor of this historic connection, National Home Care Month is launched in November to recognize the valuable role of home health care, private home care, hospice care, and palliative care in the continuum of care for patients and families. I did. Throughout the month, recognition of different aspects of care was planned, including:
· National Family Caregivers Day
· Palliative Care Week and Advanced Care Week
・Hospice Week
・Family Health Week
・Private home care week
It is fitting that the theme for National Hospice and Palliative Care Month was “We Are Stronger Together – Let’s Write Our Stories Together” in recognition of this strong partnership and the continuum of home care.
Since its founding in 1983, Avow has believed that collaboration with medical professionals, families, and communities is essential to providing compassionate care.
At Avow, we are excited to join this strengthened organizational partnership to ensure we provide the best care to the people we serve. As a nonprofit healthcare organization based in Southwest Florida that provides hospice care, non-hospice palliative care, and grief and loss support, we serve people of all ages, from infants to seniors. I am.
We have grown to become one of the largest hospices in the United States. We also pioneered non-hospice palliative care in Collier County, providing services in your home, Avow campus, or long-term care facility since 2003.
Our team provides non-hospice palliative care to help patients improve their quality of life by relieving pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, and many other symptoms and addressing side effects of treatment. We help patients access and maximize the benefits of palliative care early in their illness, and we continue to improve the patient and family experience by expanding our home care services. is dedicated to.
Our focus is on caregivers, and our support groups are open to anyone in our community caring for someone with a serious illness, so they can find additional resources. We support them and their loved ones. Avow's veteran services include matching hospice patients who are veterans with staff and caregivers who also served in the military, helping connect veterans with resources.
Our grief support services are available to people of all ages. Avow Kids specializes in bereavement support for children and teens, whether their grief is caused by bereavement, divorce, or the imprisonment or deportation of a parent.
While the healthcare landscape is constantly changing, we remain committed to continuing our mission of providing compassionate care to those in need while expanding access to our services through stronger partnerships. I'm here.
We have diverse avenues of care and share the belief that we helped create a new national alliance for home care. Our community of health care providers is united and strengthened to benefit the patients and families we serve.
Jacen Lohr joined Avow in 2015 as President and CEO. Avow is a nonprofit, independent community hospice and palliative care organization founded and managed by a volunteer board of directors. For more information, call 239-261-4404 or visit avowcares.org.
