Hospice Care is a special concept of care designed to enhance the lives of patients and their families when a life-limiting illness no longer responds to cure-oriented treatments and maintaining comfort and symptom control is the goal. Examples of these kinds of illness include: CHF, COPD, Renal Disease, ALS, Neurological Disease, Stroke, Coma, Liver Disease, Dementia, or Cancer (when aggressive treatments have been stopped). If you are managing a diagnosis that is not on this list, please don hesitate to call us to discuss your particular situation.Patients may receive hospice care as long as their doctor determines they have a poor prognosis of six months or less to live if the current decline trend continues. We realize that no-one knows exactly when a person will expire and rates of declining health may slow or change, so we are committed to care for our patients as long as they meet the guidelines for hospice. We also realize that sometimes, a patient health may improve to the point where the prognosis changes, so sometimes, patients will come off Hospice if their health improves enough to change the prognosis.Hospice Care emphasizes comfort care rather than aggressive treatment or cure care.Hospice patients do not forgo medical care to be on Hospice care. They have access to medical care and registered nurses 24/7 in the event an illness manifests.patients have the option to keep your own physician who will continue to direct and be involved in your care or you may choose to allow the Hospice Medical Director to completely manage your care.A Registered Nurse will develop a plan of care based on the patient particular needs.Hospice nurses make “house calls and their visits last as long as it takes to meet the patient needs regarding pain and symptom management, or to address questions and concerns about the patient care and condition. Receiving hospice services in the home does not prevent you from receiving hospital care, if that is your wish. The Hospice Team will teach you and your family how to care for someone at home.Hospice Care also emphasizes quality of life of our patients choose to allow a natural death, meaning, they choose not to have chest compressions, intubation tubes and respirators at time of passing. Rather, they choose to allow nature to take it course and have a gentler passing managed by pain and symptom control with their loved ones at their side.At Hospice of Tennessee Valley, we view the opportunity to serve our Hospice patients and their families as a privilege and an honor. We recognize this decision requires a great amount of trust in us possibly more trust than you have ever placed in a healthcare professional. We do not take that trust lightly.