Covenant Hospice

Healthy Living During the Summertime

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Summertime health. You probably know all you need to know. Hydrate. Keep drinking that water on hot days and use sunscreen to block the rays of the sun’s dangerous effects that could cause skin cancer. You’d be right. Those are very important health safety issues during the summertime. But there’s much more to summer time health and it’s all just common sense.

Summer is a time for swimming. Public and private pools, beaches, bays, and rivers are all are there for the cooling effect and the fun of swimming. But swimming has inherent dangers. Know how to swim. Every summer hundreds of people across this country will drown because they’re “over their head”. That is, they just don’t know safety rules or even the basics of how to swim safely. Secondly, diving accidents. You hear about it all the time. Someone—a teenager, young adult, a child dives in to the shallow water without knowing it. They strike their head and have a neck fracture that leaves them paralyzed oftentimes for the rest of their life.

The summer means bugs. Stinging insects, gnats, bees, and wasps. It’s important if you are an allergic person that you take special precautions. Your doctor may even recommend that you have an insect sting kit with you. That’s epinephrine in a shot form that you would give yourself immediately after you had an insect sting.

Summertime is also the time for barbeques and picnics. Burn injuries are common around those very hot grills. How about smoldering charcoal that has been dumped out on the ground and now the little barefoot children playing around step in it? Picnics themselves---what could be more fun? Well, that’s absolutely true but what could be more nauseating than getting food poisoning from potato salad or slaw that has been left out in the heat uncovered? Be sure to cover all picnic food and right after serving it return it to the ice chest or cooler.

So it is true that we need to hydrate and drink lots of water and protect our skin with sunscreen, but other summer health hazards are right out there. Let’s avoid the hazards and enjoy the good times.

3-Jul-08 12:00 PM

Patients Live Longer Under Hospice Care

noemail@covenanthospice.org — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:00:00 GMT

A recent study published in a recent issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management reports that hospice care may prolong the lives of some terminally ill patients.

Researchers selected 4,493 terminally ill patients with either congestive heart failure (CHF) or cancer of the breast, colon, lung, pancreas, or prostate. They then analyzed the difference in survival periods between those who received hospice care and those who did not.

Among these patients, the mean survival was 29 days longer for hospice patients than for non-hospice patients. In other words, patients who chose hospice care lived an average of one month longer than similar patients who did not choose hospice care, says the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).

I can attest that there’s an inaccurate perception among the American public that hospice means you’ve given up. However, those of us who have worked in the field have seen firsthand how hospice can improve the quality of and indeed prolong the lives of people receiving care.

Researchers cited several factors that may have contributed to longer life among hospice patients. First, patients who are already in a weakened condition avoid the risks of over-treatment when they make the decision to receive hospice care. Second, hospice care may improve the monitoring and treatment patients receive.

Additionally, hospice provides in-home care from an interdisciplinary team focused on the emotional needs, spiritual well-being, and physical health of the patient. Support and training for family caregivers is provided as well. This may increase the patient’s desire to continue living and may make them feel less of a burden to family members.

I think this study reinforces our focus on providing better quality of life for our patients. Too often our patients and their loved ones tell us they wish they had taken advantage of hospice services sooner because of the many benefits the care provides.

16-Jun-08 2:00 PM

Depression Among Surviving Caregivers: Does Length of Hospice Enrollment Matter?

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 06:00:00 GMT

Elizabeth H. Bradley, Ph.D., Holly Prigerson, Ph.D., Melissa D.A. Carlson, M.P.H., M.B.A., Emily Cherlin, M.S.W., R. Johnson-Hurzeler, R.N., M.P.H., and Stanislav V. Kasl, Ph.D.

OBJECTIVE: Many terminally ill patients enroll in a hospicelate in their illness, and recent data indicate decreasing lengthsof hospice enrollment, yet we know little about the impact ofhospice enrollment length on surviving caregivers. This is thefirst study the authors know of that examines the associationbetween hospice enrollment length and subsequent major depressivedisorder among surviving caregivers. METHOD: The authors conducteda prospective cohort study with 174 primary family caregiversof consecutively enrolled hospice patients with cancer betweenOctober 1999 and September 2001. Using data from in-person interviewsat the time of enrollment and 6–8 months after the patient’sdeath, they estimated with logistic regression the adjustedrisk of major depressive disorder with the Structured ClinicalInterview for the DSM-IV axis I modules based on the numberof days of hospice care before death. RESULTS: Caregivers ofpatients enrolled with hospice for 3 or fewer days were significantlymore likely to have major depressive disorder at the follow-upinterview than caregivers of those with longer hospice enrollment(24.1% versus 9.0%, respectively), adjusted for baseline majordepressive disorder and other potential confounders. CONCLUSIONS:The findings identify a target group for whom bereavement servicesmight be most needed. The authors also suggest that earlierhospice enrollment may help reduce the risk of major depressivedisorder during the first 6–8 months of bereavement, whichraises concerns about recent trends toward decreasing lengthsof hospice enrollment before death.

Full article can be found at http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/161/12/2257

1-Dec-04 0:00 AM