Hospice Provides What Americans Want At the End of Life

A nationwide Gallup survey conducted for the National Hospice and Palliative Care
Organization produced five key outcomes:

hospital or nursing home if diagnosed with a terminal illness. Hospice does
provide the option of being cared for at a place the patient calls home: 96% of
hospice care is provided in the patient’s home or place they call home.
• An overwhelming majority of adults said they would be interested in the
comprehensive program of care at home that hospice programs provide. Yet
most Americans know little or nothing about their eligibility for or availability of
hospice.
• When asked to name their greatest fear associated with death, respondents
most cited “being a burden to family and friends,” followed by “pain” and
“lack of control.” Addressing the whole range of physical and psychological
needs of the patient and his or her family in an interdisciplinary way is what makes
hospice care so special.
• 90% of adults believe it is the family’s responsibility to care for the dying.
Hospice provides families with the support needed to keep their loved one at
home, and can take over fully to give the caretaker short “respite” periods.
• Most adults believe it would take a year or more to adjust to the death of a
loved one. However, only 10% of adults have ever participated in a
bereavement program or grief counseling following the death of a loved one.
Hospice programs offer one year of grief counseling for the surviving family and
friends.