URMC / Senior Health / End-of-Life Concerns
End-of-Life Concerns
Whether you're facing your own death or the death of a loved one, the pain of separation and loss can be made more bearable if your friends and family understand your wishes. It’s always best to plan ahead. Having a plan in place also relieves your family of the burden of wondering what you wanted to be done.
In a hospital, making your wishes known ahead of time is often called “advanced directives.”
Advanced Directives–Consider Them Now
Advanced directives are documents that enable you to give directions about future medical care and designate another person who will make decisions for you if you're not able to make them for yourself. Three of the most important advanced directives are:
Terminal Care/Hospice
Hospice care is focused on quality of life issues for people terminally ill people. Its goal is to make their last months of life as positive as possible by surrounding them with empathetic, supportive people and by offering pain relief measures when needed. Hospice is sometimes called “palliative” care. Palliative care means pain relief and symptom control rather than treatment intended to cure a disease.
Learn more details about hospice care, including information on how to pay for it and on local and national hospice support groups.
Palliative Care in Hospital
We offer Palliative Care at both Strong Memorial Hospital and Highland Hospital. Our Palliative Care Programs are designed to help alleviate suffering through high-quality pain and symptom management, patient-centered care for those experiencing serious illness, and by providing support for patients or family members and friends. The goal of palliative care is to help people live more comfortably and to provide the best possible quality of life for patients and their families.