Core Services are available to ALL patients. Scheduled visits are made by each discipline according to a comprehensive plan of care. Gulfside Regional Hospice’s medical and supportive care is available around the clock on an as needed basis.
Nursing Services
Nursing Care is the backbone of the services provided by Gulfside Regional Hospice. Nursing services include assessment, pain and symptom management, medication adjustment and personal care to meet the needs of individual patients. Hospice nurses are specially trained to evaluate pain and symptoms and to provide services, which alleviate the suffering, associated with terminal illness. Gulfside Regional Hospice’s nurses provides patient and family education on patient care and end-of-life issues. Gulfside Regional Hospice nurses make regularly scheduled visits and are available for on-call visits and support around the clock.
Physician’s Services
Gulfside Regional Hospice Medical Directors are members of American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. They regularly review and consult with the Hospice nurses on each patient, visit the patients at home, and assist the families on patient care issues. They may also serve as consultants to the patient’s personal physician in the areas of pain and symptom management.
Social Services
Social workers support patients and their families in living with dignity and the highest degree of comfort physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. Social workers enhance the meaning and quality of a patient’s life by providing emotional support to the patient and family, assistance in dealing with closure issues, help in understanding and completing advanced directives, help in understanding and utilizing the Medicare/Medicaid or insurance benefits. Social workers also help patients and families in finding and coordinating community resources.
Counseling Services
The pain experienced by a Hospice patient can be emotional and spiritual as well as physical. Patients and family members often find it helpful to speak with a counselor about the questions and anxiety associated with the end of life. Gulfside Regional Hospice's counselors helps patients maintain contact with their faith communities as a source of comfort and strength. All Gulfside Regional Hospice’s employees respect the spiritual and lifestyle choices of our patients and their families.
Spiritual Care
Our team of dedicated chaplains offer services sensitive to the spiritual needs of those facing a life-limiting illness. Spiritual care staff will work closely with the family’s clergy or other support systems. Click here for frequently asked questions about spiritual care.
Bereavement Services
Hospice’s special way of caring continues to extend to family members and other loved ones that must go on with their lives after a Hospice patient dies. The goal of Hospice’s bereavement program is to assure the long term mental and physical well being of survivors; by helping them adjust to their loss and learn new skills for living. All families of Hospice patient’s eligible to receive their full range of Hospice’s bereavement services after the Patient’s death. These services include:
- Staffed by specially trained volunteers TAP provides a link between individuals and the Hospice program. Telephone volunteers give grieving survivors the assurance of an understanding ear; keep them informed of Hospice services, and provide additional support during the grieving process. TAP volunteers are also able to alert Hospice’s bereavement counselors to any special needs or difficulties the survivors may be experiencing.
- A death in the family disrupts the entire family system and family members respond to the death in a variety of ways. Family relationships, self –esteem communication and other facets of family life can be dramatically affected. Hospice’s bereavement counselors offer guidance and support to both individual family members and to the family unit in dealing with the grief process and encouraging healing to take place. They also help to direct families to other community resources available to them.
- We have nine different support groups that meet weekly and emphasize various bereavement issues.
Under the Hospice counselor’s leadership, members of the group share information, experiences and emotional support. The group emphasizes discussion and participation, and focus on various aspects of grief and the healing process.
- Children, unlike adults, cannot draw on past experiences to help them deal with death. Often, the adults in the family are fully occupied with their own grief and are unable to help their children cope. Hospice counselors provide specialized services to families in which have been affected by death. Individual and family counseling address the special needs of grieving children.
- Memorial Services are held twice a year. These interdenominational services provide an opportunity to remember loved ones and to bring a sense of closure to relationships; not just for the family members, but for Hospice Staff as well. These services are special times for remembering, for fellowship, and for celebrating life.
