Isn’t hospice care just for cancer patients?
No. When the hospice movement in the United States began more than 30 years ago, it was viewed primarily as care for end-stage cancer patients. But the types of illnesses in patients served by hospice have evolved over the years along with the criteria for admission to our program. Today, slightly fewer than half of our patients have cancer. We care for and have expertise in the care of patients with many illnesses and conditions, including but not limited to ALS (“Lou Gehrig’s Disease”), Alzheimer’s and other dementias, congestive heart failure, liver disease, Parkinson’s disease, end-stage pulmonary disease, stroke, and other end-stage chronic diseases. Sometimes in the last months of life, people may simply lose weight and become weaker. Both Adult Failure to Thrive and Dementia are acceptable hospice diagnoses.
