Healthcare Support Services

Communities who were dealing with individuals suffering from illness imposed a threat due to death. Groups and families gathered together for an individual by providing assisted care if they were wounded or ill. One person was given the title role to become the administer of medicine or the healer of all sick through spirituality (Amitabha Hospice Service Offering Kindness & Clarity, 2000). Death rates for mother and children's were tremendously high, fewer people lived over the age of 40, and most of every resource was devoted to survival. Christianity began to spread in Europe and churches or monasteries which lead to the intake of sick and the disabled. Women who were well off or lost their husbands volunteered to work in the monasteries as care takers. During Medieval times during crusades, travelers discovered places of refuge with the nunneries as well as the monasteries. During the development of medicine and hospitals, the ill patients found treatment at these facilities but as diseases formed and the fear of outbreaks developed family members preferred for the care to take place in the home. The community would then prepare food and provide clothing for the individuals families who were taking care of them. The aftermath of WWII helped healthcare services provide better medicine for the ill which saved a lot of lives. The name hospice originated from the care of the terminally ill patients by Mme Jeanne Garnier and founded The Dames de Calaire in Lyon, France during 1842. Hospice care is an important part of health care usually according to (NHPCO - National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, 05/1). Dame Cicely Saunders continued the hospice care services as she began her duties and established a hospice named St. Christopher's in the suburban part of London in 1948. Once hospice was introduced to the United States in 1963 Saunders welcomed the concept of the care to medical professionals and over time educated them on the alternative form of care once released from a hospital or transitioning into short term care that a more holistic approach to hospice provided. Once the knowledge of this field was expressed and spread amongst health care professionals Hospice Care was eventually established. At one time I was not aware of Hospice care and what or who it involved. For a long period of time I assumed hospice care catered only to cancer patients who were suffering from the illness for a long period of time. As I stated before children, mothers and most individuals did not live past a later stage of life which meant that the younger generation were the ones who needed more hospice care or even those who were not as well off in life. I was not sure of the community or geographic scope the care involved until reading the history. Hospice care serves the terminally ill patients who are suffering from all forms of illness with a given time limit of life from 6 months to less. This form of care covers all demographics of life from children to the elderly who are suffering from a life altering ailment. People may tend to refer hospice care more so to cancer stricken patients since cancers affects such large population of individuals. My family personally experienced an encounter dealing with hospice, about three or four years ago when my uncle was suffering from terminal cancer. He was once given a year I believe to live and we all did not expect for him to live beyond his given time. As his cancer progressed his body mainly bones started to slowly deteriorate but with the help of his wife he was able to fight his battle a lot longer. Towards the end of his battle while he was in the hospital on dialysis he requested to go home and have a hospice caregiver sent to his house. He knew then he was no longer able to fight his battle so during the end of his time the hospice was able to ease and help transition him into the end of his fight. I never forget my mom telling me that he took his final deep breaths and he was gone. If it was not for the hospice caregiver and being in the comfort of his home the transition would probably not be as easy as it was when he left us. Knowing what is the best care for your family member or individual will determine if hospice care is the right path to select. I believe training in hospice care requires individuals to be at ease and keep a somber and humble relationship with the patient and their family. Some health care providers are not psychologically fit to become a hospice care provider. This is a very sensitive professional in my opinion to be able to deal in a time of grievance, healing, and over whelming circumstances. Religion may play a big part in hospice care because of lot of spiritually healing could take places as the dying transitions into the afterlife so you want the care giver around you to be spiritually sensitive. There are many resources for hospice care from the American Cancer Society, hospicenet.org where you can locate your local hospice and gain more information, and find out what caregivers are available.
I choose this profession based on the more personal and sensitive relationship they have with the patients and their family. You get more one on one care when you request a hospice caregiver where you're able to tell the giver things you and their individual needs to provide comfort to them. I believe that everyone that can afford this form of care who needs it should utilize it and this will encourage the family to be on one accord even if the client is dying or on a road to recovery you always want to focus on the care of the individual. Lots of providers in the healthcare system are not as sensitive as hospice caregivers or are in it for the money more so than the care of the client and their families. Healthcare is the maintenance of our everyday living and when we have control over ourselves and our well being, we should be able to know what is the right care for us.

References
Amitabha Hospice Service Offering Kindness & Clarity. (2000 - 2009). A Brief History of Hospice Care. Retrieved from http://www.amitabhahospice.org/public/who_we_are/general_history.php
NHPCO - National Hospice and Pailative Care Organization. (05/17/2012). History of Hospice. Retrieved from http://www.nhpco.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3285