Hospice care can improve quality of life

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – Entering hospice care earlier could help improve more than just quality of life.

In satisfaction surveys, more than 60 percent of patients and caregivers said they would have liked to have been better informed about the option to choose hospice earlier.

“Having a terminal illness you know you can start with palliative care in your treatments but when a patient is no longer able to complete a treatment, or they no longer want to, that’s whenever we start looking at comfort,” said Skyler McCulley, intake coordinator with Crown Hospice.

According to Crown Hospice, when pain and other symptoms are effectively controlled, people not only feel better, but they also have a potential to live longer.