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The phrase "living your life to the fullest" is not normally associated with hospice terminology, but that is precisely the quality of life scenario under which patient services are provided by not-for-profit Cornerstone Hospice, which services the counties of Hardee, Highland, Orange, Osceola and Polk as part of the larger family of Hospice of Lake & Sumter. Licensed in central Florida since 1984, Cornerstone has been assisting patients and families facing serious, complex, life-limiting illness regardless of age, sex, race, creed, nature of illness or ability to pay. This organization's team of physicians, nurses, CNAs, social workers and chaplains prepares a personalized care plan with each patient and the caregivers in the family.

Cornerstone Hospice has always worked closely with assisted-living facilities and nursing homes. Through partnering, both are able to provide special services and skills for the greatest possible benefit to patients and their families. Among the hospice's many distinctive services are specially qualified nurses and aides, emotional and spiritual counseling, trained volunteers and an award-winning "Tuck-In"™ program providing additional comfort in the evening hours.

Hospice for the Heart is a special program for patients whose heart rhythms are not as regular or strong as they once were. The program provides care and comfort that can greatly enhance the patient's quality of life, supporting individual independence and functional ability, aggressively managing symptoms so patients can live each day more fully and helping reduce the number of hospitalizations.

Unfortunately, only about 15 percent of people with end-stage heart disease receive the care and support they and their families deserve. The program's goal is to help patients experience life to its very fullest for as long as possible while providing support to the family and persons close to the patient.

Located at Westminster Towers Orlando, Cornerstone inpatient suites provide a short-term, comprehensive, inpatient level of care that helps with pain and symptom management. This coordinated approach to care benefits individuals who are experiencing a period of crisis, who can benefit from aggressive pain and symptom management and who require treatments or medications that are complex, including infusions and IV therapy. To be eligible for Cornerstone inpatient suites, an individual needs only to be facing a serious, life-limiting illness; requiring short-term acute pain or symptom management; needing transitional care following hospitalization. Westminster Towers' policies require that patients be 50 years of age or older.

Patients receive their care in a supportive, home-like environment, which helps make each day a meaningful experience while offering guidance and support to those sharing the patient's life. The patient is then usually able to return home to his or her previous familiar setting.

Pathways is a palliative care program, a medical specialty that helps enhance the patient's quality of life, whereby the organization's professionals help patients assess and coordinate care across the entire medical continuum. Program administrators assist with pain and symptom management regardless of patient's current medical treatments, surgeries or other curative care, coordinating the individual's healthcare from a variety of providers, including specialists and primary care physicians. Some individuals who use Pathways' services improve to the point of no longer requiring services.

Cornerstone Hospice sponsors a philosophy of care with an emphasis on quality of life, addressing the physical, emotional, psychosocial and spiritual needs of patients under the care of their medical team. The organization does not stop treatments or do anything to hasten the progression of disease, while providing comprehensive pain and symptom management, allowing patients to live comfortably and pain-free.

The organization's services include visits by a hospice physician in coordination with a patient's physician; medications, medical equipment, supplies and therapies related to comfort care and diagnosis; regular nursing visits; continuous care in times of crisis; training for patient care; respite care; bereavement support; spiritual counseling; social services and emotional care; personal care by a home health aide and visits by professionally trained volunteers. Services are adjusted to meet the individual's and family's needs of the moment. As needs change, care is readjusted as often as necessary to be of greatest help.

Hospice care is appropriate for patients of all ages and diagnoses, including Alzheimer's disease and dementia; cancers, tumors and malignancies; heart disease; stroke; lung disease; liver disease; kidney disease; HIV/AIDS; failure of multiple organ systems; neurological disease and any other life-limiting illness. The earlier in the process hospice care is sought, the more beneficial it can be to patients and their families. Care is determined by individual need.

While Medicare, Medicaid and many private insurance plans cover most of the cost of hospice services, Cornerstone Hospice Foundation assists with care when no other coverage is available. To be eligible for Cornerstone Hospice, an individual need only live in Hardee, Highlands, Orange, Osceola or Polk counties (although legal residence is not required). Patients who receive hospice care in the home of a caregiver, a nursing home, an assisted-living facility or one of our local hospitals are considered residents for hospice purposes.

For additional information or referrals, Cornerstone Hospice offices in Orange, Osceola and Polk counties may be reached at (407) 206-2273 in Orlando, (407) 846-1231 in Kissimmee and (863) 291-5560 in Winter Haven or by calling toll-free (800) 679-6088.

Manny P. Hernandez is manager of public information for Cornerstone Hospice.

May 2007

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