Hospice or palliative care focuses on life. Hospice recognizes that death is a part of life and dying is a normal process. We are human beings and death will come to each of us.
For most of us the idea of our own death or the death of someone we love is inconceivable. In North America, thoughts of death are pushed aside. We are a death denying society. So, when faced with the inevitability of death—our own or that of one whom we love—most of us feel ill prepared. Many of us feel overwhelmed by the situation and are not certain where to turn for help. Sometimes we are not sure what kind of help we need.
Hospice or palliative care services exist in the hope and belief that through receiving appropriate care, people who are dying and their family members might be free to discover a satisfactory degree of mental and spiritual preparation for death.
The route to appropriate care is through working in partnership—patient, family and health care team members working together—with a clear focus on issues of patient autonomy and patient and family preferences.
