Press Release - October 16, 2012
For Immediate Release
Contact: Lisa Veglahn
lveglahn@hospicefoundation.org
800-854-3402 Ext. 1006
McGovern’s End-of-Life Care a Reminder of Hospice’s Extensive Reach and Service in United States
Washington, DC -- October 16, 2012 -- George McGovern, 90, a former Senator from South Dakota and former presidential candidate, is receiving hospice care, his family said this week. McGovern’s care is a reminder of the important services hospice care provides the terminally ill and their families in the United States every day.
“When a public figure receives care from a hospice, the public often hears about it,” said Amy Tucci, president and CEO of Hospice Foundation of America. “What most people don’t know is that more than a third of all people dying in the United States today do so in the care of hospice.”
There are now more than 4,000 hospice providers in the United States, a striking contrast from 1972, when McGovern made his presidential bid against Richard Nixon. Today, more than a million individuals* with a wide range of life-limiting diagnoses die in the care of hospice each year. Individuals receiving hospice care typically have six months or less to live, though hospice patients can be recertified as hospice eligible if they live longer.
“The first hospice in the United States was not founded until 1974, and thanks to the foresight of Congress, the Medicare benefit began almost a decade later. Hospice has come a very long way since then,” Tucci said. “Today small hospices serve single communities and large hospices provide services nationally, but the concept of care, to manage pain and symptoms, and to provide emotional and spiritual support, has remained a constant over time.”
While hospice care has become more popular, there are still many people who don’t understand what hospice does or who is appropriate for its care. Many people, for example, believe that hospice care is only for terminally ill cancer patients.
Hospice Foundation of America provides these facts to help families who are struggling with decisions surrounding end-of-life care for a loved one. To learn more about hospice care, visit hospicefoundation.org, or call us at 1-800-854-3402.
- Hospice is a special concept of care designed to provide comfort and support to patients and their families when a life-limiting illness no longer responds to cure-oriented treatments.
- Individuals with a wide range of diagnoses are eligible for hospice care, including heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, COPD, renal failure, stroke, debility unspecified, ALS and cancer.
- Hospice care neither prolongs life nor hastens death. Hospice staff and volunteers offer a specialized knowledge of medical care, including pain management.
- The goal of hospice care is to improve the quality of a patient's last days by offering comfort and dignity.
- Hospice care is most often provided at home, where most people say they want to die.
- Hospice care is provided by a team-oriented group of specially trained professionals, volunteers and family members.
- A hospice nurse and physician are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide the patient and family or other caregivers support.
- Hospice addresses all symptoms of a disease, with a special emphasis on controlling a patient's pain and discomfort.
- Hospice deals with the emotional, social and spiritual impact of the disease on the patient and the patient's family and friends.
- Hospice offers a variety of bereavement and counseling services to families before and after a patient's death.
*1,029,000 people in the U.S. died in hospice care in 2010, according the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. There were 2,452,000 total deaths in the U.S. in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which means that 41.9 percent of all U.S. deaths occurred in hospice.
