Our Mission

The mission of Continuum Care Hospice is to provide comprehensive coordinated care for persons with life-limiting illnesses so they may live as fully and comfortably as possible until the end of life and offer continued support to the bereaved.

Our Vision

Continuum Care Hospice is committed to the provision of excellent care for the communities we serve. As an integral part of the healthcare system, hospice leads in the planning and provision of services at the end of life. The communities we serve are fully aware of the accessible, cost-effective, and compassionate care we provide.

Criteria

Criteria for admission to the Continuum Care Hospice program include: experiencing a serious, life-threatening illness with a life expectancy of 6 months or less if the illness runs its normal course; desire for comfort-oriented care; approval of both the primary care physician and the hospice medical director, and reside in our service area.

Continuum Care Hospice is a program of services, rather than a place. The services are provided by an interdisciplinary group (IDG) in collaboration with the patient, family members/caregivers, and the patient’s primary care physician.

The IDG includes: Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Pastoral (Spiritual) Counselors, Social Workers, Hospice Aides, Medical Director, Volunteer Coordinator and Trained Volunteers, and Bereavement Coordinator.

Objectives

The primary objectives of the hospice program are as follows:

• To provide quality comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, and compassionate care
• To utilize an interdisciplinary group (IDG) for care planning and delivery
• To manage the patient’s pain and other symptoms
• To maintain the patient in his/her own home or assure an inpatient setting as homelike as possible
• To maximize patient/family autonomy, decision making, and respect their beliefs, goals, and choices
• To facilitate the patient’s and family’s capacity for reconciliation and closure
• To provide bereavement services to family/significant others
• To educate the community about death and dying
• To collaborate with other community resources to optimize continuity of care and comprehensive services.

Continuum Care Hospice Philosophy Statement

Hospice is a special kind of care designed to provide sensitivity and support for people in each phase of terminal illness and is based on a philosophy which embraces six significant concepts:

• Death is a natural part of life. When death is inevitable, hospice will neither seek to hasten nor to postpone it.
• Hospice care established pain and symptom control as an appropriate clinical goal.
• Hospice recognizes death as both a spiritual and a physical experience. Psychological and spiritual pain is as significant as physical pain and deserves the same attention.
• Patient, their families, and loved ones are the unit of care. We have learned that to effectively care for patients, we cannot separate patients from their environment. That environment includes their homes, their families, and their friends.
• Bereavement care is critical to supporting surviving family members and friends and starts before the death of the patient and continues for 13 months following the patient’s death.
• Hospice care is made available by most hospices regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.

Counties we Service

Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, and Wayne

Payment for Hospice Services

Medicare, Medicaid, and most private insurance plans and HMOs provide coverage for hospice services. Costs related to the hospice diagnosis, as determined by the hospice IDG members, are covered at 100%. We will not refuse admission to patients regardless of their ability to pay.