Hospice Care
About
About Hospice
Hospice is specialized, comprehensive care for terminally ill patients who are no longer seeking treatment for cure. Hospice care attends to the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of the patient and their loved ones. In addition to making sure that the patient's symptoms are managed, an entire hospice care team addresses the many facets of a terminal illness with counselors, a chaplain, nurses, volunteers, social workers, as well as physicians, to make sure patients and their loved ones are supported in a comprehensive manner.
The goal of hospice care is to treat patients in their home with the assistance of a hospice agency and family caregivers. However, many patients will be referred to inpatient care due to symptoms or circumstances that require 24-hour care and assistance, but can't be managed at home. A patient's physician, hospice agency or family member can make the referral to inpatient care and when they do, the SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House provides a warm, caring home-like environment with 24-hour care by a highly skilled medical staff and comprehensive hospice team that support patients and their families in every way.
One of the most important actions you can accomplish is to prepare a Living Will and a Healthcare Power of Attorney. Everyone should consider making these documents a part of their life planning strategy. A Living Will provides your family members with instructions to fulfill your wishes in certain medical situations. It gives your loved ones and health care team a guide that you have devised to provide your care. Living Wills can be a true blessing to loved ones in many situations.
A Healthcare Power of Attorney designates the persons, in succession, that you want to be in charge of making healthcare decisions in the event you are unable to. This person, or succession of people, would know you and should have discussions with you about your wishes, so that if they are faced with making decisions for you, they will know your hopes and feelings.
Click for an example from the NC General Statutes of a Living Will (NCGS 90-321) and Healthcare Power of Attorney (NCGS 32A-2). Discuss these important documents with your loved ones, your physician, and your legal advisors. These forms are being provided solely for purposes of example. They are not intended for use and should not take the place of specific legal or medical advice, for which you should rely upon your own attorney and physician.
Services
The SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House is staffed by highly skilled, specially trained nurses, nurse practitioners, certified nurses' assistants, a chaplain, a volunteer coordinator, and a clinical administrator and is served by an on-call regional medical director and a social worker. The facility provides exceptional patient care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There are no facility restrictions on visitation hours. Visitors are welcomed 24 hours a day. A patient's care team may restrict visitation hours for individual patients to benefit the patient or family.
We offer three levels of inpatient hospice care.
General Inpatient Care/Acute Care
We offer six individual patient suites for Acute hospice patients. General Inpatient or Acute Care provides pain control, symptom management, medication adjustment, observation, and psychosocial monitoring. The anticipated stay is a few days and usually no more than 1-2 weeks. This level of care is fully covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most Third Party Insurers including Tricare.
Respite Care
Home hospice patients may be admitted to one of our Acute Patient Suites, for a maximum stay of five days, to provide the family/care givers relief from 24-hour/day patient care. Once the Respite stay is over, the patient returns to their previous setting with family/care giver. This level of care is fully covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most Third Party Insurers including Tricare for the 5 day stay.
Residential Care
With four residential patient suites, we are able to offer Residential Inpatient Hospice Care to hospice-eligible patients for an alternative living situation or available family care giver. Our residential suites allow hospice patients to relocate to the SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House as their residence, and to receive a less intensive hospice care than patients in our Acute Care suites. Residential hospice care models home hospice care, requiring patient input to care, with access to our medical team as a substitute for the 24-hour family caregiver in a home hospice situation. The typical residential stay is 3 to 4 months; however, patients may remain eligible for longer periods as long as they remain hospice eligible. For Residential patients only, there is an $200.00 per night Room & Board charge that is not covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most Third Party Insurers including Tricare.
Patients that are unable to afford this Room & Board charge may be eligible for assistance based on a financial screening.
Patient care at the SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House is coordinated by 3HC, our operating partner. For more information about patient services and eligibility, please call 3HC at 1.800.692.4442.
Policies
Providing a High Standard of Inpatient Hospice Care
SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House: Care at Its Best When It's Needed Most
The SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House will provide the highest quality end-of-life care for every patient referred to inpatient care with the only admission restriction being bed availability. The patient's hospice team will address all aspects of the patient's hospice care program as well as embrace family and friends so they may focus on cherishing every moment together.
Operating the Hospice House
Crystal Coast Hospice House partners with 3HC (Home Health & Hospice) of Goldsboro to provide outstanding health care and service to our patients and their families. 3HC has over two decades of successful experience operating the Kitty Askins Hospice Center - an inpatient hospice facility in Goldsboro, NC – and is one of the most respected and highly accredited inpatient hospice facility operators in the state. The long-term lease between CCHH and 3HC ensures a partnership between the two non-profit organizations that will continue to deliver the highest quality of care at SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House for many years to come.
CCHH continues to own the SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House, and as the owner we ensure that the Hospice House is well maintained, well furnished, and comfortable for patients and their families. 3HC works with hospice agencies, hospitals and other referring providers in our five-county service region (Carteret, Craven, Jones, Onslow, and Pamlico Counties) to provide exceptional inpatient hospice care.
For more information about 3HC, visit 3HC's website.
3HC Notice of Privacy Practices
This notice will tell you how 3HC may use and disclose protected health information about you as a patient. Protected health information means any health information about you that identifies you or for which there is a reasonable basis to believe the information can be used to identify you. In this notice, 3HC calls all of that protected health information, "medical information."
This notice also will tell you about your patient privacy rights and our duties with respect to medical information about you. In addition, it will tell you how to contact us if you believe 3HC has violated your privacy rights.
Download the eight-page document explaining 3HC's "Notice of Privacy Practices."
For more information or for a hard copy of 3HC's Notice of Privacy Practices, please write to:
Chief Compliance Officer
3HC
2402 Wayne Memorial Drive
Goldsboro, NC 27534
or call: 1-800-260-4442
info@3hc.org
Partnering with Hospitals and Physicians
Keeping the Hospice House as local as possible is a very high priority for CCHH and 3HC. In cooperation with local in-home hospice providers, area hospitals, and local physicians, SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House offers a seamless continuum of care for patients. Physicians may follow their own patients and care for them at the facility by maintaining regular visits with their patients at the Hospice House and 24 hour a day on-call services. Or, patients may be transferred to the care of the facility's medical director at their request.
Our medical director and caregivers remain in contact with the patient's referring provider.
Our care respects The Dying Person's Bill of Rights.
Eligibility
Typically, patients become eligible for hospice care when they no longer seek curative treatments for a terminal illness. Hospice care focuses on symptom and pain management for the patient and emotional, spiritual and physical support for the patient and family. In general, to be eligible, a patient must be diagnosed with a terminal illness, must not be seeking curative treatments and must have or obtain a physician's statement of the terminal diagnosis with a six month or less prognosis. Hospice eligibility is often extended beyond six months upon further medical review. However, hospice patients may improve and graduate from hospice care for a period of time and then become eligible again as their illness progresses.
To learn more about patient eligibility, please call 3HC at 800.692.4442.
Referrals
Our Referral Process
Patients may be referred to hospice care, both with an in-home agency and at the SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House, by a physician, nurse, minister, family member, social worker or themselves. All patient referrals are subject to eligibility screening. To be eligible, a patient must be diagnosed with a terminal illness, must not be seeking curative treatments and must have or obtain a physician's statement of the terminal diagnosis with a six month or less prognosis. Hospice eligibility may be extended beyond six months upon further medical review.
If you think you may need the SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House during the course of hospice care, please discuss this with your in-home hospice provider, so your instructions are clear. Making your wishes to use the SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House instead of the hospital known during your initial hospice visit will ensure a smooth transition should that time arrive
For questions regarding patient care, referrals or eligibility, please call 3HC's patient intake at 1.800.692.4442.
Grief Support Groups
We host monthly Grief Support Groups on the 1st Tuesday at 5pm, and 3rd Thursday at 10am. Anyone suffering from grief due to the loss of a loved one is welcome to attend.
Frequently Asked Questions
about Hospice care
Hospice, by definition, is a team-oriented approach to providing specialized care for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury. It includes expert medical care, pain management, and emotional support for patients and their families. But more simply, hospice care supports living one’s life to the fullest with dignity regardless of how much time remains. National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, 2014, https://www.nhpco.org.
Hospice becomes appropriate when it is determined that further efforts for cure are no longer feasible or desirable. Hospice will do everything possible to help the patient live peacefully until death.
Our hospice staff is trained to offer peace of mind in addition to medical care. We hear it so many times, patients and families tell us: “We wish we’d called hospice sooner.” Patients and families can benefit most from hospice care when they seek support earlier rather than in a crisis.
“When is the right time?” A growing number of caregivers are finding that the correct answer to the question is, “As early as possible,” as they discover all the advantages hospice has to offer the patient as well as the caregiver.
The SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House is a specialized care home for hospice patients who need temporary or short term care when they can no longer remain in their own home, or are released from the hospital and cannot return home right away, or when the care they need can no longer be provided at home. The SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House is a facility with a home-like setting, which allows the patient and family to “feel” at home. Visitation by loved ones is encouraged and permitted around the clock, 7 days a week, including children and on occasions, pets. Family and loved ones find that the SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House is there for them as much as it is there for our patients.
The hospice team works directly with the patient’s doctor to provide optimum medical care. Often times your physician is the first to mention the possibility of hospice care. Some physicians hesitate to bring up hospice because they sincerely want to preserve hope for a cure. Frequently, they will continue to pursue treatment because they think that’s what the patient and family want. When a doctor does mention hospice care, he or she is simply presenting an option for comfort, which in many cases may actually lengthen life by increasing the quality of the time remaining. It is important that you and your doctor talk openly and share the same goals for maintaining quality of life.
YOU DO! According to Medicare and Medicaid a patient is free to choose any qualified agency offering him or her services. SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House provides care for our five-county service area, including Carteret, Craven, Jones, Onslow, and Pamlico Counties. However, patients and their families are welcome from anywhere.
Hospice services are paid through Medicare, Medicaid, most insurance plans, and personal payments. Through generous donations from the community, Crystal Coast Hospice House and our healthcare partner, 3HC, are able to continue the mission of caring for all who need us regardless of their ability to pay.
Hospice care is beneficial for people of any age with any terminal illness. Many people mistakenly think that hospice care is only for cancer patients. Some other leading causes of death are lung, heart and kidney diseases, Alzheimer’s, other types of dementias, stroke, neuromuscular diseases, and many other illnesses, as well as natural decline, all of which can be helped by the comfort and support of hospice care.
Pain is often one of the most feared issues. Pain management is one of the most important services provided by Hospice. It is a priority!
Pain, as well as other symptoms, is managed as efficiently as possible. The care team, consisting of physician, nurse practitioner, nurses, social worker, and chaplain, meet regularly to discuss the patient’s needs and to tailor each patient’s care to best manage their symptoms and meet their needs.
You, the patient, are always in charge of your healthcare decision. If your condition improves and the disease seems to be in remission, or if you reconsider your decision to pursue curative treatment, you can be discharged from hospice care. If hospice care is needed again, re-enrollment is always available.
Caring for yourself as your loved one’s caregiver is one of the most important things you can do. SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House supports the family in conjunction with the patient.
How do you know if you or your caregivers could benefit from hospice care?
You or your caregivers are physically and/or emotionally exhausted from caring for you or your loved one.
Your family is feeling isolated because of caregiving demands or the uncertainties you feel about your loved one’s future.
You or members of your family appear to need emotional support to cope with the situation.
You are overwhelmed by the physical, financial, emotional and spiritual concerns arising because of the illness.
Each patient’s care is tailored to their specific needs by a team of Hospice professionals. Each member of this Hospice interdisciplinary team has a specific area of expertise within their scope of practice. The team, however, is responsible for providing overall Hospice care with a holistic approach.
The Hospice Medical Director and Attending Physician focus on the medical aspects of the terminal disease.
The Hospice Nurse provides personal care, focusing on the physical symptoms and medical complications of the terminal disease. All nursing care is provided by, or under the supervision of, a registered nurse.
The Hospice Medical Social Worker focuses on the emotional and psychosocial needs of the patient and family, and provides supportive care through counseling and coordinating of community services as needed.
The Chaplain provides spiritual support and counseling to the patient and family.
Hospice Volunteers assist the patient and family in any one of a multitude of ways, including providing comfort and respite to the family, an avenue of socialization for the patient, etc. All volunteers have completed 3HC’s volunteer training course.
Bereavement Services are provided to the family for up to one year following the patient’s death.
Call the Intake Line for our operating partner, 3HC, at 800.692.4442. Our trained and compassionate staff will guide you through the process and answer all your questions.
Feel free to come by our beautiful campus and tour our facility at any time. We will take time to show you around the House, introduce you to our staff, and answer your questions.
We know that this can be a stressful time. We want to help relieve your stress and answer all your questions so that you can make the best and most informed decision for your health care or the care of your loved one. We look forward to meeting you soon.