CARING FOR YOUR LOVED ONE AT HOME?
Being a caregiver for your loved one is one of the most challenging and most rewarding tasks you will ever undertake. Let Hospice support you in your role. During this significant life transition, we offer a diverse menu of supportive services that are tailored to the caregiver’s needs.
ASK KAYLEE KRON, LMSW GC-C ABOUT CAREGIVER SUPPORT
SUPPORT FOR EVERY CAREGIVER
Our caregiver support programs are offered to anyone in the community who is caring for a loved one with a chronic or life-limiting illness.
COMMUNITY SUPPORTED
Cost does not have to be a barrier to self-care! Thanks to generous community support, all caregiver support services are offered free of charge.
PROGRAMS TAILORED TO MEET YOUR NEEDS
A comprehensive approach for providing a type of support that incorporates all aspects of a participant’s learning style and preference; head, hands and heart.
CAREGIVER SUPPORT GROUP SERIES
As a caregiver to a loved one, you may face a number of challenges that your family and friends do not understand or relate to. Find a supportive environment with others who are going through a similar experience. Discuss struggles, share resources and care for yourself.
Offered twice each year: January 16 – February 20 and August 13 – September 17
Thursdays, 1:00–2:30PM
In the Hospice Community Building.
Conference room photos and location map, here.
EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS
Receive a roadmap to help you navigate through the many obstacles faced by caregivers. Hospice and Palliative Care experts offer seminars twice each year, or by request from the community.
Absorb information on common topics such as advance care planning, navigating Social Security, and creating a resource manual for family members.
Tentatively scheduled for April 30, 2020, 1:00 – 2:30PM
In the Hospice Community Building.
Conference room photos and location map, here.
Watch for emerging details on our News and Events page!
CAREGIVING SKILLS WORKSHOP
Increase your confidence for providing care to your loved one. Learn hands-on skills from Hospice nurses and certified nursing assistants!
Week 1 – Body Mechanics
Week 2 – Importance of Skin Care
Week 3 – Care for the Bedbound Patient
Week 4 – Dementia Skills
Week 5 – Environmental Safety
Week 6 – Community Resources
Offered twice each year, March 5 – April 9 and October 1 – November 5
Thursdays, 1:00–2:30PM
In the Hospice Community Building.
Conference room photos and location map, here.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Free, Advanced Directives: The best gift you can give to your family is peace of mind. Idaho Advance Directives guide your care if you are not able to make decisions for yourself. Access free documents here: http://www.sos.idaho.gov/hcdr/index.html. Next, talk to your doctor about your medical wishes, and obtain a POST.
- National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)
- NHPCO on Caregiving : New to caregiving? Find answers to your basic questions, here. Call Hospice to talk about the comprehensive support caregivers receive as we journey together.
- Soul Injury, Healing the Aftermath of War and Trauma (for both 20th and 21st century Veterans)
- Veterans Guide to Long-Term Care
- Pet Therapy: How Animals And Humans Heal Each Other
- Grief.com Because love never dies
- E-Copy of the Living Will and Power of Attorney for Health Care, “Advance Directives”
- End of Life Parables, a YouTube video series: Creative and helpful representations describing the hard concepts in hospice and palliative care for families and care providers.
- Being Mortal, PBS Frontline documentary
- See how one family talked about end-of-life planning and what this conversation generated
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Now is the best time to talk about end-of-life planning, needs and wishes. Planning can greatly reduce stress when the time for hospice care is needed. Planning allows patients to make their own decisions and it relieves their family from making uninformed choices for their loved one. The Conversation Project is a very helpful, self-guided resource to help the conversation get started and determine what end-of-life choices may be. www.theconversationproject.org.
Yes, our care includes caregiver support. Our team will review a caregiver’s handbook and provide any obvious and applicable education at each scheduled visit. Our expert staff is available by phone 24-7, including holidays to take questions and schedule an immediate visit if needed. Learn more about Caregiver Support.
We have seen the positive difference it makes for families and patients to enroll with Hospice of North Idaho early in a disease progression process, or when treatment is no longer curative.
Call us anytime to discuss your unique situation.
Palliative and Hospice care education can reduce emergency hospital visits, give confidence to caregivers, encourage planning, encourage choice, and supports the grieving process. Families have told us that planning for a good ending is empowering and honors life.
Hospice of North Idaho is staffed 24-hours a day, every day of the year. We take enrollments and questions about enrollment at any time. Care is provided wherever our patient resides including a skilled nursing facility or a residence. Individuals may also choose care at the Schneidmiller House.
We honor our patient’s wishes for how they envision their end of life journey. Comprehensive care includes the patient’s choices for alleviating pain, receiving support in grief, lifestyle changes and spiritual needs.
Palliative care begins at the time of diagnosis even if treatment is ongoing. We help family caregivers stay on top of the increasing amount of care they will provide. Caregivers receive better education, patients receive better care, and a sense of personal choice is brought into their journey. Patients decide when to transition into traditional ‘hospice’ care. Learn more.
Respite Care is available to every Hospice patient. Patients can receive up to 5-days a month of care at the Schneidmiller House, giving caregivers a respite. Caregivers needing a couple of hours of respite can request a Hospice Respite Volunteer to care for their loved-one at home.
We believe that every person should receive an expert level of care, regardless of their ability to pay. Medicare, Medicaid, V.A. and private insurance are billed. Remaining costs can be covered with charitable care. A social worker will discuss with each patients’ circumstances so that cost is not a barrier to reaching the best hospice care available.
A doctor’s POST, Living Will and Power of Attorney documents are each helpful for you to experience the care you hope to have. Get the forms here. Notary and attorney approval are required for these to be legally binding.
Each patient’s care team includes registered nurses, social workers, hospice aides, board certified physicians, and a spiritual care coordinator. The patient and the team create a Plan of Care meeting the needs and goals of the patient. Working together we help ensure your comfort, dignity and peace of mind. Please do not hesitate to ask questions, tell us how you are feeling, or ask for help.
Patients also have access to hospice volunteers who provide additional support. Find out how volunteers can add joy, ease, and comfort.
Volunteers made Hospice of North Idaho what is it today. Our volunteers bolster services by providing companionship, respite visits, pet therapy, veterans companionship, certified massage therapy, bereavement support, and more. Volunteers help our patents be at ease and make quality memories with their family.
Consider the experience you and your loved ones wish to share. Should the end of life experience be rushed, urgent and intense? Should it be peaceful, thought-out, honored, and gracious? Should there be time to resolve relationships or contemplate spirituality? Will the family need support for living without their loved one?
Our philosophy is to care for the whole person and for their family’s life-changing experience. Our comprehensive care ensures that options for care are available and respected.
Hospice offers a time to live fully. Planning care, the tone of the environment, and resolving spiritual and emotional needs makes hospice an incredibly special time. We believe that everyone should have access to the most expert and comprehensive care in our area.
We serve every community in Kootenai, Shoshone and Benewah Counties. Since 1981 our community-owned Hospice has provided expert care for the seriously ill and those touched by loss.
Every patient, regardless of age, or their financial circumstances receives the highest quality of care offered by the most experienced team in North Idaho. We not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.
Yes, all medication and medical equipment related to hospice care are covered. Pain medications, beds, walkers, oxygen and other equipment are provided to meet each patient’s needs. Our palliative care doctors prescribe medications and nurses will provide medications and caregiver education.
Yes, Hospice will talk to you about your wishes then will create your Plan of Care. We will make visits, just as in home care. Between visits, the facility staff will implement the Hospice Plan you chose. Our entire team is available to each person; including volunteers, spiritual care, social work and nursing staff.
The Schneidmiller House is offered to our patients as an option. Built in 2011, it is Idaho’s only hospice in-patient unit. Some choose the House for it’s 24-hour nursing care. Some people choose the House as a place where family is welcome and their family caregivers can experience the role as ‘loved-one.’ Discover the place of peace and comfort; take a virtual tour of the Schneidmiller House.
Hospice of North Idaho is accredited by Joint Commission and is Medicare Certified. Joint Commission surveys Hospice of North Idaho to assure compliance with Medicare regulations and additional Joint Commission standards.
Hospice of North Idaho (HONI) is required by applicable federal and state laws to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to give patients our Notice of Privacy Practices.
Yes. Hospices are not all the same; in fact they can be quite different. Hospices can be for- profit, non-profit, hospital-based, home health- based, or independent. Different hospices have different levels of expertise, philosophies of care, depth of services and approaches to patient and family care.
Hospice of North Idaho, the only local, fully non-profit hospice. We direct all of our resources to ensure that members of the community will live as fully as possible at the end of life. Hospice of North Idaho is the longest established hospice in the area.