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St. Francis Reflections Hospice Care
Care Wherever You Need It
Hospice care from St. Francis Reflections Lifestage Care can be delivered in a private home, a nursing home, an assisted living facility, our inpatient facility, and sometimes in the hospital setting.
St. Francis Reflections Hospice has more than four decades of experience helping people live their remaining days to the fullest, with comfort, dignity and an individualized focus on what matters most for each patient and family. Easing the weight of care for families allows patients and loved ones to cherish their remaining time together better.
The goal of hospice care is to relieve symptoms, control pain, and provide the support that you need to enjoy your days as fully, normally, and comfortably as possible. Hospice care is delivered in any setting that you call home, such as a private residence or a long term care community. If you are in need of more intensive symptom relief or caregiver respite, you may choose to spend time in our beautiful Edward M. Poe Care Center for Patients and Families. Research shows that people who have hospice generally live longer than people with the same conditions who do not have hospice. In addition to providing medical, nursing, and personal care, St. Francis Reflections Hospice offers practical, spiritual and emotional support for you and your loved ones. Hospice services are always available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
When you choose hospice care, you will be wrapped in support by an interdisciplinary team (IDT) of caring professionals. Leading the team is the RN Case Manager, who oversees the direction and coordination of coordinates in your care your care, helps you and your family understand what to expect, and supports caregivers and loved ones with a variety of resources. A patient’s care and the care provided for their caregivers and family is our main objective. The St. Francis Reflections Hospice care team includes the medical expertise of a Physician and a Nurse Practitioner that focus on hospice and palliative medicine, and coordinate your medical care with your trusted clinicians in the community. The hospice team provides extensive support to you and your family through a full complement of compassionate professionals with different specialties, including: a hospice aide, to assist with personal care and companionship, a social worker to listen, counsel and connect you with resources for support and planning, and a chaplain to provide spiritual support. The interdisciplinary team is supplemented by a skilled team of expert nurses that are available to visit if an urgent need arises at any time of the day or night.
Working closely with the rest of the hospice care team, case managers decide how care resources are allocated and formulate the plan of care for each patient.
They also determine what level and what types of counseling, education, and care the patient’s family caregiver and family members will need before, during, and after the patient’s death.
The team includes, in addition to the RN Case Manager:
- A visit nurse who supports the care provided by a patient’s hospice case manager. In part, their work consists of following up on routine care duties that are laid out in the patient plan of care, such as providing periodic wound care, administering medications, and ensuring proper documentation of all provided care.
- An aide who provide personal care, support, and companionship
- A social worker to listen, counsel, and connect families with community support systems
- A chaplain to provide spiritual support or connect the family with members of their faith community
- A physician to review care for optimal management, support the patient’s own doctor, and to make house calls when needed in addition to providing compassionate hands-on care, our team teaches caregivers some valuable techniques to assist them in caring for their loved one. RNs are available by phone 24/7 and can make visits after office hours when needed.
Before they are ready for hospice care, some patients receive palliative care, a multi-disciplinary approach to treating serious illness that focuses on comfort rather than on cure. Palliative care addresses symptoms, relieves pain, and maximizes quality of life for the seriously ill.
Palliative Care may be an additional service provided in the hospital, a supplement to medical care at a clinic, or when it is difficult to get to the clinic it can be provided at home through home health services such as our St. Francis Reflections Palliative Care program.
A transition from palliative care to hospice may be recommended by a doctor when a patient’s life expectancy is projected to be 6 months or less. For those who qualify, hospice offers more services with fewer restrictions than palliative care.
Click here to review a helpful listing of frequently asked questions and answers about Hospice Care at St. Francis Reflections Lifestage Care:
Our teams are among the nation’s best at providing high quality and compassionate care
CMS patient satisfaction survey allows patient caregivers to objectively evaluate hospices in their communities to help determine which might best meet their needs.
According to the most recent patient satisfaction survey results for the year 2021, St. Francis Reflections scored considerably higher than the national average in the categories for rating of patient care and would recommend this hospice.
Joe Killian, President and CEO of St. Francis Reflections Lifestage Care credits our committed and compassionate interdisciplinary team. "Our staff is deeply committed to providing high quality and compassionate care at life’s most challenging moments. They truly embody our mission of reflecting life, love and compassion for our patients and their loved ones” said Killian.
Trusted to provide compassionate care
for more than 40 years.
St. Francis Reflections continues to care for our community as Brevard’s County only independent, not-for-profit provider. Our scope of services includes palliative care, hospice, pediatric palliative care, and the Space Coast’s most extensive array of grief support programs.