At Chautauqua Hospice and Palliative Care (CHPC), we understand the challenges and emotions surrounding end-of-life care. With over 40 years of experience, we provide compassionate and expert care, empowering patients and their families to navigate this journey with dignity and peace.
Caring for a loved one with a serious illness is more difficult than you imagined. You are not alone. Call us at 716-338-0033 and let us help.
Patients are referred to hospice by doctors, caregivers, or themselves. CHPC will collaborate with the physician to obtain a physician’s order. The hospice benefit covers all expenses related to a terminal illness, including medication, nursing care, and equipment. Some hospice care may be provided in hospitals, in-patient hospice facilities or nursing homes, but the vast majority of patients are cared for in their homes, or in The Star Hospice House
Once the decision to refer to hospice is made, the patient’s physician typically continues to be their primary attending physician. A Registered Nurse Case Manager will assess the patient and continue to maintain a collaborative relationship with the attending physician to be sure that all patients needs are being properly met.
Patients must meet certain criteria to be eligible for hospice care, as described by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Below are some of the conditions that suggest a patient should consider hospice care:
Our team of doctors and nurses make house calls to assess your loved one’s symptoms and provide the right medical treatment to manage pain and other symptoms. Social workers and chaplains can offer support for emotional and spiritual pain, and a variety of therapies are available for physical and emotional relief.
Whether your loved one is undergoing curative treatments like chemotherapy, radiation, or drug therapies, or simply experiencing symptoms of their illness, Chautauqua Palliative Care provides relief at any stage and age. Rely on our expertise for a comforting support system.
Serious illness can make even routine activities difficult for your loved one and their caregivers. Our experienced Home Health Aides are a vital part of Chautauqua Hospice Care. These compassionate professionals can help you perform many activities or do them for you, depending on your condition and situation.
Confronting a serious illness triggers emotional and spiritual challenges for patients, their families, and caregivers. The stress, anxiety, and uncertainty of an illness can unleash a range of emotions – fear, anger, depression, guilt, grief and many other feelings. But you don’t have to face these challenges alone. Chautauqua Hospice & Palliative Care is beside you.
Our expert team of social workers and counselors provide education and counseling for a range of needs. They also can help you understand your care options and connect you to other community resources, such as disease-specific support groups.
To help your family sort through spiritual issues to find peace and comfort, our team includes experienced Chaplains. Matters of faith and spirituality are often magnified during a serious or terminal illness. Our Chaplains are specially trained to help you connect with your faith according to your individual preferences, beliefs and traditions, regardless of the faith you practice.
Chautauqua Hospice Care therapies include:
Massage therapy — provides a gentle, compassionate touch to bring relaxation and relief. Massage therapy decreases muscle and joint tension and improves circulation to ease emotional distress, anxiety, physical discomfort and nausea. Our Massage Therapists can apply techniques, including Swedish massage and Reiki (a Japanese technique), to soothe body, mind and spirit.
Speech, physical and occupational therapies — As an illness progresses, physical abilities can diminish. Our specially trained therapists can help your loved one retain language skills and improve performance in doing everyday activities for as long as they’re able.
Nutrition assistance — As dietary and nutrition needs change, a registered dietician can provide assistance and guidance.
Your loved one’s needs can change, sometimes quickly, during the course of a serious illness. And that can mean an immediate change in appropriate medications, medical supplies and equipment.
For example, your loved one’s doctors may adjust the type, dosage or frequency of a medication at any moment. Chautauqua Hospice Care will communicate with your pharmacy and coordinate the delivery of prescriptions and refills. Also, our nurses monitor and manage your loved one’s prescription schedule to make sure they’re taking the right medication at the right time.
In addition, changes in needs for medical equipment and supplies may occur as a disease progresses. Your loved one may shift from using a cane, to a walker, to a wheelchair. New needs may arise for a hospital bed, shower chair or bedside commode. Chautauqua Hospice Care manages delivery and setup of the right equipment wherever your loved one calls home.
We’re there beside you, with the right medications and equipment as they’re needed.
Many patients and caregivers don’t want to discuss financing hospice care, especially during such a stressful time. Don’t worry. CHPC understands and we’re here to help–and there’s never a co-pay. The links below provide general information about paying for hospice care.
Most of our patients rely on Medicare or Medicaid to pay for hospice care, as this is a comprehensive benefit available to those patients. If you have any questions about finances or whether you or your loved one meet the requirements for hospice care, don’t hesitate to give us a call for a free hospice consultation. 716-338-0033
How your Medicare Hospice benefit works: If you qualify for hospice care, you and your family will work with your hospice provider to set up a plan of care that meets your needs. For more specific information on a hospice plan of care, call your state hospice organization. Visit Medicare.gov/talk-to-someone, or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) to find the number for your state hospice organization. TTY users can call 1-877-486-2048.
Hospice care does not end with the death of the patient. All family members and caregivers affected by the loss are entitled to 13 months of aftercare CHPC provides through our comprehensive Bereavement Care program. You are not alone.
The facility was built thanks to great support from our community. The full project included renovations to the existing house, and the newly built patient level. The house and patient levels are connected via stairway or lift. In addition to the patient rooms, the patient level also includes a great room, full kitchen, salon, and covered patios. The existing house contains two family bedrooms, another full size kitchen, living room, and balcony.
TSHH rooms are designed to make the stay of our patients and their loved ones as comfortable as possible. Each room is equipped with the following:
Call us today at 716-338-0033 for more information or to start the admission process.
Chautauqua Hospice & Palliative Care offers palliative care in home or hospital evaluations. Most insurances will cover palliative consults with our physician or nurse practitioner. During this visit with the provider you can expect: a full symptom assessment, education on disease progression, collaboration with your primary care provider and specialists on symptom management, and completion of advanced directives.
Understanding hospice and palliative care can be confusing. The main focus of each is providing comfort and easing symptoms of serious illnesses. The main difference is that hospice care is typically reserved for those with less than six months to live.
It helps to understand that hospice care is actually a part of palliative care. So hospice care is always palliative, but palliative care isn’t always hospice.
Bereavement is the process everyone goes through to recover from the death of a loved one. Yet everyone grieves in a different way and at a different pace. Sometimes, feelings of grief can be overwhelming and impact your work or family relations. It may help to have someone who is experienced in the grieving process to walk beside you in the journey that is exclusively yours.
Chautauqua Hospice & Palliative Care provides bereavement support through several different programs to meet a range of different needs.
Hospice Bereavement Support is available for 13 months to family members and friends following the death of a loved one who passed away while on hospice care. A Hospice Bereavement Counselor or volunteer will contact family members about a month after their loved one’s death to offer support and services, and if desired, schedule a visit to assess how we can best meet the needs of each individual. This service is covered under the Medicare Hospice Benefit at no charge.
Community Bereavement Support is available to anyone in Chautauqua County, free of charge, regardless of whether their loved one was on our hospice care. A phone call or email to Chautauqua Hospice & Palliative Care is all it takes to begin the process. A Bereavement Counselor will make an appointment to discuss concerns and struggles and provide emotional support at this difficult time. Typically, the counselor and grieving person will meet for two to five sessions. If the individual feels further counseling is needed to address deeper or more complex issues, our Bereavement Coordinator can help find an appropriate therapist to help.
Grief Support Groups are available for anyone grieving the loss of a loved one. Sometimes it’s helpful to be in the company of others who have experiences profound loss.
The sooner you call 716-338-0033 the more we can do to fulfill your wishes and make your journey easier. If you’d rather we contact you, fill out our contact form, and we’ll be in touch soon!
CHPC is Title VI Compliant: No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
