ALS & Hospice
How Hospice East Bay helps people living with ALS
Support for Patients
- Managing breathing issues with medications, ventilators, and oxygen support.
- Providing treatments for pain, anxiety, or muscle stiffness.
- Focusing on skin care to prevent bedsores from prolonged time in bed or a wheelchair.
- Supplying hospital beds, cushions, and wheelchairs for safety and comfort.
- Covering medications to manage symptoms like pain, breathing trouble, or emotional distress.
- Providing suction devices or ventilators to help with swallowing or breathing difficulties.
- Our Bruns House inpatient facility provides short-term intensive treatment in a homelike setting for management of uncontrolled symptoms.
Support for Families & Caregivers
- Teaching caregivers how to use breathing machines, ventilators, and other medical equipment.
- Providing tips for preventing bedsores, maintaining skin health, and managing mobility.
- Explaining what to expect as ALS progresses and how to recognize signs of distress.
- Helping families cope with the emotional challenges of caregiving and end-of-life planning.
- Offering strategies for easing patient anxiety, such as using music therapy or other calming techniques.
- Providing access to social workers and spiritual care for additional support.
- Offering 24/7 access to hospice nurses for questions, emergencies, or reassurance.
- Ensuring regular hospice visits to monitor the patient’s condition and address family concerns.
- Our Bruns House inpatient facility provides short-term intensive treatment in a homelike setting for management of uncontrolled symptoms.
Support for Veterans
- Hospice East Bay helps veterans living with ALS by addressing the unique challenges they may face, such as navigating the VA healthcare system, and ensuring they have access to programs that provide caregiver support and compensation.
- ALS is considered a presumptive condition for veterans, meaning it is service-connected if the veteran served at least 90 consecutive days of active duty.
- Veterans diagnosed with ALS receive 100% VA healthcare benefits, including compensation and access to medical equipment like ventilators and wheelchairs.
- These benefits ensure veterans and their families have the resources needed to manage the disease.
- Hospice East Bay helps veterans navigate VA healthcare benefits and ensures they access programs like caregiver support and compensation.
- Provides specialized care for veterans with ALS, addressing unique challenges they may face due to military service.
How to Qualify
Hospice Care helps people living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) when the disease reaches a point that staying comfortable becomes challenging. You or your loved one may qualify for hospice care if you experience:
- Difficulty breathing, even when resting.
- Using neck or chest muscles to help breathe.
- Faster-than-normal breathing or pauses during sleep.
- Dependence on a breathing machine, such as a CPAP or BiPAP.
- Needing a wheelchair or being mostly confined to bed.
- Losing the ability to cough or clear mucus effectively.
- Trouble swallowing, leading to significant weight loss (5% or more of body weight).
- Feeling anxious, confused, or nauseated without a clear reason.
If you or your loved one is experiencing these changes, a hospice team can help assess if it’s the right time to start care. A neurologist’s evaluation within the past three months can also provide important information to support eligibility.
How Palliative Care Can Help
- Emotional and psychosocial support includes counseling to address anxiety, depression, or fear related to the disease.
- Symptom management and relief focuses on reducing pain and other challenging symptoms while enhancing the patient’s overall quality of life.
- Goals-of-care discussions identify what it means for the patient to live well—their goals, values, and treatment preferences—to support informed decision-making by patients and families.
- Care coordination with the appropriate specialists (such as oncologists, neurologists, or primary care providers) to align treatment with the patient’s goals and evolving needs.
- Transition planning for when curative treatments are no longer effective or meeting the patient’s goals and values.
- Future planning and advance directives involve supporting patients in designating healthcare decision-makers and completing medical and legal planning documents.
Hospice East Bay ensures that patients with ALS receive compassionate, tailored care while families feel supported, educated, and prepared for the journey ahead.
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