HOSPICE: HOSPICE PATIENTS & FAMILIES
Choosing a Hospice
As a funeral home and cremation provider, we are always working with hospices in our 75-mile service area. That’s a lot of hospices and it’s important to choose the hospice that is right for your family’s needs. Here are some basic things to know about hospice:
- Hospice provides person- and family-centered, interdisciplinary team care that focuses on medical, emotional, social, and spiritual support.
- Hospice is not a place but a compassionate kind of care that provides dignity and respect for the wishes of the patient and family.
- Most hospice is provided in the home which is where eight out of 10 people prefer to be if possible, research has shown.
- Family caregivers play an integral part in caring for their loved one and hospice offers education and support to take on this very personal and intimate task.
- Hospice is a benefit people are entitled to and is covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and most insurance programs.
Below is a map/list of the hospices in our 75-mile radius that we have the privilege of serving. Keep in mind, that our 75-mile radius is not based on the location of the hospice but on your loved one’s location at the time of passing. The hospice admission process will involve choosing a funeral home and making your funeral plans clear to the hospice you have chosen for your loved one. If you have decided to use Leaf Cremation for your loved one’s funeral arrangements, then you should make that known to the hospice provider.
Taking Care of Funeral Arrangements
Dealing with the loss of a loved one in hospice care is going to be difficult and filled with a lot of worry about what to do next. We encourage all our families to have already taken care of the funeral arrangements before their loved one passes away. This will help remove a lot of stress and anxiety for those who are taking care of their loved one’s funeral arrangements. Here are some things you can do beforehand:
- Depending on when your loved one will be going into hospice care, you can pre-plan your funeral arrangements with Leaf, taking care of the cost of cremation before your loved one’s passing. We recommend this only if you expect your loved one will not pass for a number of years. You can do that here.
- You can do pre-arrangements for your loved one before they pass. This is not paying for the cremation, but it is providing all the information needed to perform the cremation after your loved one has passed. You can complete the arrangements here.
- Complete an Advance Directive of Healthcare. A Georgia Advance Directive for Healthcare is a legal document that specifies an individual's medical treatment preferences in the event that they become unable to make decisions for themselves. To ensure their wishes to be cremated after death, a person can specify this preference in the "Funeral Arrangements" section of the document. By doing so, their loved ones and the hospice will be aware of their wishes and can make arrangements for cremation in accordance with the individual's stated desires. You can download and complete the form here.
From the Hospice to Leaf Cremation
Once you have made arrangements or communicated your desire to use Leaf for your loved one’s cremation, the hospice caregiver will be the one who will do the pronouncement and contact us to take your loved one into our care. An arranger from Leaf will be assigned to your family and will take care of you throughout the cremation process. If you have more questions about the cremation process, visit this page for more information.
Additional Resources for Those Considering Hospice Care
Love Not Lost provides a free professional portrait session to preserve memories with those they love. It is for anyone facing a terminal diagnosis - or any stage 4/metastatic cancer. They also offer an online community where anyone can join for free to give and receive support through the loss of a loved one.
