What Is Hospice?
Hospice care affirms life. We provide continuity of care with expert long-term staff with years of hospice experience. Hospice exists in the hope and belief that through appropriate care and a compassionate community, patients and families may be free to attain a high degree of physical, emotional, and spiritual preparation for the end of life.
Starting a conversation about hospice options with someone you love can be difficult. Iowa River Hospice is here so you don’t have to take the journey alone.
Hospice Services
Medicare, Medicaid, VA benefits and most private insurance cover the cost of the hospice benefit. Services include:
- Access to Iowa River Hospice’s team of experienced professionals providing in-home care guiding the care plan (doctors, nurses, aides, spiritual care counselors, social workers, and volunteers)
- Symptom management is available 24/7, including access to medications and necessary medical equipment (i.e. hospital beds, lift chairs, oxygen)
- Education for illness, diagnosis, and management
- Help with care coordination and conflict resolution
- Improved quality of life and less stress for patient, family, and caregivers
- Access to the area’s only Hospice Home for respite care or short-term pain and symptom management
General Guidelines & Eligibility
To quality for Hospice Care, the patient's life expectancy is less than six months. Hospice patients choose not to continue with curative treatment and instead desire symptom relief.
Examples of conditions that may result in Hospice Care include, but are not limited to the following: cancer, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), dementia due to Alzheimer's disease and related disorders, end-stage heart disease, end-stage liver disease, end-stage pulmonary disease, end-stage acute or chronic renal failure, stroke, coma, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
Hospice eligibility may also include a decline in status, as based on the following factors:
- Weight loss
- Increased weakness
- Changed level of consciousness
- Frequent ER visits, hospitalizations, or physician visits
- Progressive stage 3-4 pressure ulcers
- Progressive decline in FAST (Functional Assessment Staging for Dementia)
- Decreased ability to care for self; this may include feeding, ambulation, continence, transfer, bathing, and/or dressing.
Progression of disease with worsening symptoms which may include the following:
- Recurrent infections
- Dysphagia/recurrent aspirations
- Dyspnea with increasing respiratory rate
- Cough, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea which do not respond to treatment
- Pain requiring frequent increased dosages of major analgesics
- Pleural/pericardia effusion
Referrals & Admission
Anyone can refer anyone to Iowa River Hospice. We provide hospice services wherever the need is within our service area. A comprehensive nursing assessment will help determine whether hospice admission is appropriate.
Benefits of Choosing Your "Local Hospice"
Care is provided in the patient’s home setting or our state-of-the-art hospice home. We provide 24/7 on-call services for our outpatients that two nurses staff to answer questions or provide care. Our staff live within a 40-mile radius of Marshalltown for quick responses to the patient’s home.
In addition to nursing services, we provide hospice aides, chaplains, social workers, volunteers, music therapy, massage therapy, and pharmacist consultation services to provide care and support to our patients and their caregivers. Bereavement and grief counseling is also available via support groups as well as individual conversations.
