Recently the Los Angeles Times ran two front-page articles bashing the hospice industry and its regulators, with poor performance by hospices in Los Angeles County being the focus. Performance problems There have been significant performance problems reported in the hospice industry, in and beyond Los Angeles County. And the problems produce shameful consequences. When a […]
As a person nears the end of their life they often stop eating. Other times, it becomes unsafe for the person to consume solid food, or even liquids. At times, family members become concerned, and urge or pressure the person to eat and drink. In these circumstances, we discuss the situation with the family members […]
We created this handy guide for you based on our experience serving Caring House residents on hospice during the Coronavirus pandemic. A person with a serious underlying medical condition is at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19. With care at home, you must not only protect the sick patient, you must protect household members […]
If sewing is a passion or hobby of yours, we need your help now. We need reusable isolation gowns. These can be washed and sanitized between each use. The CDC is suggesting these reusable gowns now, recognizing that single-use disposable gowns are in very short supply. The good news is these reusable gowns can be homemade, […]
COVID-19 is present in Los Angeles County. We’ve worked very hard to keep it out of Caring House. To protect our very vulnerable residents and also our visitors and staff, our steps (many first-time actions here) have included the following. January 14, 2021: Read our updated approach to COVID-19 and admissions. May 9, 2020: We’re […]
Never Say ‘Die’: Why So Many Doctors Won’t Break Bad News JoNel Aleccia, Kaiser Health News [republished with permission] PORTLAND, Ore. — After nearly 40 years as an internist, Dr. Ron Naito knew what the sky-high results of his blood test meant. And it wasn’t good. But when he turned to his doctors last summer […]
At Caring House, we’re proud to be an Omega Home. Actually, we’re the only Omega Home in Los Angeles County. While Caring House is an independent nonprofit created by and for our local community, we benefit greatly from being part of the Omega Home Network (OHN). The OHN is a national membership organization that promotes […]
There’s a movement across the U.S. to improve the late life and end of life experience. Hospice services, a key to improving end of life care care from the earliest days of the movement, have grown from one in 1974 to more than 4,000 today. And they now serve more than 1.3 million people per […]
Care planning is the way you can obtain the health and medical care you want and avoid the care you don’t want, even if you’re ill and can’t speak for yourself. The Six Keys include selecting the best person to speak for you and communicating what’s important to you. Presenters Edward Long, JD and Ellen […]
Can you score 100 (perfect) on the Annual Advance Care Planning Scorecard? If you can, it means you’re up-to-date on selecting and updating your designated agents, on your advance directive documentation, on your thoughts about what’s important to you, and on your communication with your agents, family and doctor. Why an annual scorecard? Because all […]