Capital Hospice isn’t a place where you go; it is a program—a comprehensive program of expert care—that comes to you. Working together as a team, hospice professionals and caregivers bring their expertise to patients wherever they live within our service area of Washington D.C., Northern Virginia or Prince George’s County, Maryland—in a private residence, a nursing home, an assisted living facility, or temporary housing.
Many studies have shown that people who know they will not get well want to stay at home in familiar surroundings, spending time with the ones they love, engaging in activities that they enjoy. This is exactly what hospice makes possible.
Beginning as Hospice of Northern Virginia, and later merging with Hospice Care of DC and Hospice of Prince George’s County, Capital Hospice has provided expert, compassionate end-of-life care in metropolitan Washington since 1977. As one of the oldest, largest, and most experienced hospice care programs in the United States, we have helped more than 50,000 patients and loved ones in this community.
We are one of the largest nonprofit hospice programs in the country; on an average day, we care for nearly 800 patients and their families in their homes throughout the metropolitan area. However, each patient is unique, so care is planned to meet individual needs.
Usually for one of two reasons: A doctor has determined that the patient’s illness cannot be cured, or the negative side effects and risks of curative treatment have begun to outweigh the potential benefits.
Residents of long-term care facilities receive the same services as do patients in a private residence. Capital Hospice has special contracts with these facilities that make this possible.
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.
No. Hospice can be particularly beneficial to families when children or infants have a terminal illness. We are among very few programs in the U.S. that offer the medical skill and support needed by parents and family to cope with the unique stresses of the life-limiting illness of a child.
You and your loved ones should feel free to talk about hospice care with your doctor, other health care professionals, clergy, or friends. At any time during the course of a serious, progressive illness, it’s highly appropriate to explore all of a patient’s care options, including hospice.
No. Anyone can make an initial referral. Often the patient’s family or friends make the first call to us at 800.869.2136 or make a referral online. However, Capital Hospice must contact the patient’s physician before actual admission to verify the patient’s elibility for hospice care.
First, the physician must certify that the patient is medically eligible for hospice care. Then, by law, the decision belongs to the patient.
The earlier you call, the more we can do to help you. Sadly, many people believe that hospice care is unavailable or inappropriate until the last days of a person’s life. A great deal can be done, however, many months earlier to improve quality of life. We can provide:
Another important benefit of enrolling in hospice early: The patient enjoys better quality of life, resulting in more presence of mind with which to consider difficult choices and make their wishes known to loved ones. This relieves loved ones from having to wrestle with difficult decisions on their own.
We can tell you this: Having seen how much we can do for them, many Capital Hospice patients and families say their biggest regret is that they didn’t call sooner.
You can contact us to make a referral anytime day or night by telephone at 800.869.2136 or you can make a referral online.
When you have a serious, progressive illness, Capital Hospice offers compassionate, comprehensive, expert care that helps you to live each day to the fullest, with dignity and in comfort. Hospice assists people and their families with a full range of medical, emotional, spiritual, and social needs.
Hospice regards death as part of the continuum of life. Hospice care neither prolongs life nor hastens death. We provide personalized services and a caring community so that you and your family can make end of life a time that meets your individual needs.
We enhance the quality of end-of-life care, while providing an opportunity for patients and their families to strengthen their relationships.
No. Hospice patients receive expert medical care, but towards a different goal: The shift is from curative care to palliative care. Capital Hospice patients are cared for by a special team of health professionals with expertise in relieving pain and managing symptoms, with the goal being comfort, not cure.
Few doctors and nurses outside hospice have this specialized training.
Each Capital Hospice patient is under the care of a hospice team composed of professionals who can address not only physical but also emotional, social, and spiritual needs. A fundamental tenet of hospice is that emotional and spiritual pain are just as real and in need of attention as physical pain, so your team offers the skills to deal with each.
Working closely with you and your loved ones, the team creates an individualized Plan of Care that will be followed by everyone involved in care. To learn more about the team approach, see Understanding Hospice: The Team Approach.
Your primary care physician will continue in that role, or you can select a hospice physician—it’s up to you. In either case, the doctor is responsible for all treatment orders and plans recommended by the hospice team.
Yes, a patient can withdraw without penalty. If your condition improves, plateaus, or if you decide to pursue curative treatment, you can leave the program at any time. Later, if you need to return to Capital Hospice care, Medicare and most private insurance will allow additional coverage for this purpose.
You can also opt out of hospice care at any time if you simply decide it’s not the right course for you.
Caring for a loved one at home involves learning many skills. Capital Hospice team members do a lot of teaching, showing caregivers—family members or other loved ones who care for you at home on a day-to-day basis—how to change dressings, use a pain pump, bathe the patient, deliver medications on schedule, provide oral care, and more.
You will receive a copy of The Capital Hospice Patient Care Handbook, a detailed guide with invaluable tips and instructions for providing home care.
Capital Hospice nurses and doctors are experts on the latest medications and devices for pain and symptom relief. Our success rate in battling pain is very high: Using some combination of medications, counseling, and therapies, patients usually attain a level of comfort acceptable to them.
After the hospice team conducts its initial assessment, it will recommend any needed equipment and make arrangements to obtain it. Often the need for equipment is minimal at first and increases as the illness progresses. Medicare covers the cost of all durable medical equipment—bedside commode, hospital bed, walker, wheelchair, etc.—required in hospice care.
Capital Hospice also provides all medications, supplies, and hospital services related to providing palliative care—pain and symptom management—for the serious, progressive illness.
Hospice staff and volunteers make regular home visits. The schedule is adjusted according to a patient’s needs. The Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) who provides personal care is usually the most frequent visitor.
There is no set number. The hospice team will make a recommendation in the individualized Plan of Care.
A Capital Hospice After Hours Care nurse who is trained to assess such situations is always available by phone to answer your questions and ease your mind.
The After Hours Care nurse has access to each patient’s medical record. When the situation warrants, a doctor or nurse can be dispatched to the home at any time. A Capital Hospice nurse can be reached by phone 24 hours daily, 365 days per year.
We can provide short-term, around-the-clock inpatient care when needed. In most cases, this acute care is required for one of two reasons: to control pain and symptoms, or to provide family members with respite care—a temporary break from their caregiving responsibilities.
This type of care is usually provided at our Halquist Memorial Inpatient Center in Arlington, Virginia. Typically, the goal of a stay at the Inpatient Center is to prepare the patient to return home.
Medicare Part A covers all expenses involved in hospice care. Hospice care also is covered under Medicaid, most private insurance plans, HMOs, and other managed care organizations. Your insurance company can tell you more about your hospice coverage.
Capital Hospice provides care to anyone medically eligible who requests it, regardless of ability to pay. We can do this thanks to the support and generosity of the community we serve.
Grief is a normal response to loss. We offer families and loved ones follow-up services for more than a year after the death of a hospice patient.
You can meet with specially-trained bereavement counselors or attend a support group, where you can talk with others who have recently lost a loved one. Drop-In Support Groups are held during the day and in the evening in locations throughout the Capital Hospice service area.
Because children deal with grief differently than adults, we provide special bereavement services tailored for them.
Yes. We offer support groups, short-term individual counseling, and workshops on special topics. We also support the community in dealing with tragic events such as the September 11 terrorist attacks, the sniper shootings of 2003 and instances of school violence such as the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007.
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