Blue Skies Hospice Will Offer Care and Treatment

A recent report from National Public Radio reveals that 12 percent of hospices reject patients who do not already have a caretaker at home. Blue Skies Hospice will offer care and provide treatment to all patients, regardless of whether or not they have a caretaker at home. If they do have a caretaker, Blue Skies will effectively cooperate with that caretaker to provide the best care and treatment possible. Lack of a caretaker will not prevent Blue Skies from working with any patient.

The staff of doctors, nurses, clergy, social workers, and volunteers is dedicated to reducing suffering and giving peace and comfort to patients and their families.

Valentines For Veterans

Blue Skies Hospice has become a national partner of We Honor Veterans, a pioneering campaign developed by National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

As a We Honor Veterans Partner Blue Skies Hospice will focus on recognizing the needs of our nations veterans who are facing a life-limiting illness.

To get our partnership under way, Blue Skies Hospice is hosting "Valentines for Veterans" -

Valentines for Veterans
February 11, 2013

Speaker: Disabled Veterans Organization Chicago Office Representative
Topics: How to Apply for Veterans Benefits - Getting Through the Red Tape
Learn About Benefits You Never Knew You Were Eligible For

Time: 12pm - 3pm
Place: Blue Skies Hospice
          2714 169th Street
          Hammond, IN 4623

For reservations call (219) 554-0688

Call Hospice Early and Often, says NY Times Journalist

Paula Span, writing for the New York Times, strongly recommends that families call hospice early for the care and treatment of their terminal loved ones. She writes,

I’ve often wondered why more families don’t call hospice when a loved one has a terminal disease — and why people who do call wait so long, often until death is just days away.

Even though more than 40 percent of American deaths now involve hospice care, many families still are trying to shoulder the burden on their own rather than turning to a proven source of help and knowledge. I’ve surmised that the reason is families’ or patients’ unwillingness to acknowledge the prospect of death, or physicians’ inability to say the h-word and refer dying patients to hospice care.

Span elaborates on the issues preventing families from taking full advantage of the care hospice offers by identifying harmful regulations and Medicare policies that actually discourage entry into hospice. She writes about the changes in medicine that render many of the old regulations, which were once sensible, antiquated. The entire article is worth reading, especially for her full endorsement of the benefits patients and families receive from hospice.