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My mother will need hospice care. My siblings & I live out of state. I’m currently working with my own health related issues. My sibling is retired.
How would hospice work in this case? I explained to my sibling that hospice does not provide 24/7 care or does it?

Mom had 24/7 care at physical hospice.

Also, many nursing home residents are on hospice but get their standard care from the nursing home CNAs.
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Reply to brandee
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Hospice is going to require that there be a designated adult caregiver in the home as necessary for the hospice recipient to stay living in their home safely and taking their medications accurately.

If your mom is living by herself in her home and realistically cannot live alone….. that it’s obvious that her there on her own solo is a health and safety issue….. what will happen is the hospice provider will do an assessment on her ADL and medication management capabilities. And also her ability to deal with an emergency. If she’s found lacking, then hospice will do a consult with them and their family to either get adult caregiver(s) in the home most or all non-hospice staff time or do a referral to facility. The agencies have to be fairly strict on this as Medicare (who pays for hospice as a Part A benefit) has lots of safety evaluation requirements that all hospice has to meet.

As others have said, if family are all out of town, it may be best that mom moves into a facility and has hospice coming into the facility 2-3 times a week.
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Reply to igloo572
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PeggySue2020 18 hours ago
Or better yet, a hospice home. Dad’s first hospice didn’t have this, and when it became clear he was going to refuse aides and mom wouldn’t sleep even with us there, YS started making arrangements to transfer hospices and with it him to this “respite home” that we intended to leave him at with self pay after the covered five days on Medicare.
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While hospice is available 24/7 it DOES NOT provide 24/7 care for anyone, unless you're activeley dying in one of their hospice homes.
If a patient is at home hospice will have a nurse to come out once a week to start to check vitals and such and will be there around 30 minutes. Aides will come about twice a week to bathe the patient, and your loved one will have access to the hospice chaplain, social worker and volunteers, but 99% of the patients care will still fall on family members or hired help.
Of course they do supply any and all needed equipment, supplies and medications which are covered 100% under your mothers Medicare.
But since you are all out of town your best bet now is to get your mother placed in the appropriate facility where she'll be looked after and cared for 24/7, and where you can still have hospice come to the facility to keep extra sets of eyes on her.
I wish you well in getting your mother placed soon so she can die in peace.
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Reply to funkygrandma59
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My dad had hospice care in his home. He was provided a hospital bed and many supplies at no cost. We also received the medications of hospice to ensure he was always comfortable and pain free. An aide came three times a week for changing the bedsheets and bathing. His nurse came once a week or more often when needed. Advice was offered via the phone 24 hours a day. All of the hospice staff were wise, helpful, and compassionate. What it is not is around the clock care. That’s on the family to provide. It was explained at intake that the patient was not to be left alone at all. Our hospice agency maintained a list of non employees that they had worked with and knew to be good, mostly CNA’s looking for extra hours. They each negotiated their own pay. When it got intense with dad, I hired several, they were true godsends. Some cities have inpatient hospice houses where a person can go for around the clock care in their final days. These are only meant for the very end times, not a long stay, but they usually have great reputations. I wish you well finding the best plan in a sad time
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Reply to Daughterof1930
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Hospice will only come to the home to provide care to the patient for a few hours per week if someone else is in the home caring for them 24/7. The best idea is placement in Assisted Living or Skilled Nursi g with hospice care if nobody is available 24/7.

Best of luck.
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Reply to lealonnie1
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hospice does not provide 24/7-someone would need to be around the rest of the time.
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Reply to woe8myte
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Hospice provides a week of respite after you’ve been on with them for at least a month.
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Reply to PeggySue2020
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