It is a highly emotional and spiritual time when you are faced with a terminal illness. You have many questions and are worried about what is to come. You do not have to go through it alone. Granite VNA is here to help. Our hospice team provides high quality care, guidance, and support during the most difficult time of your life. We help you manage expectations and live as fully as possible while preserving your dignity and ability to choose.
We accept referrals 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, and can deliver end-of-life care within 24 hours of a doctor’s order.
For a summary of our services, click here.
Call us today at (603)224-4093 or (800) 924-8620.
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How We Help
Services
Our hospice team of nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed nursing assistants (hospice aides), social workers, spiritual counselors, and physicians provide the following services for patients of all ages:
- Individual comfort care
- Symptom management
- Spiritual and emotional support
- Information on caring for loved ones
- Bereavement and grief support
- Admissions support and on-call nurses available 24 hours a day
- Speech, occupational, and physical therapy
- Appropriate medical equipment and supplies
- Volunteers for companionship and support
As part of our Volunteer Program through our We Honor Veterans partnership, veteran volunteers visit veterans receiving hospice. Patients who are veterans tend to be more willing to share their experiences with fellow veterans.
Locations
Hospice is available in your home, at Granite VNA Hospice House (see below), and at locations including:
- Belknap County Nursing Home
- Birch Hill Terrace
- Canterbury Hall, LLC
- Catholic Medical Center
- Concord Hospital
- Epsom HealthCare Center
- Forestview Manor
- Gerrish Manor
- Goldencrest
- Goldenview Health Care Center
- Granite Ledges of Concord
- Hackett Hill Center
- Harris Hill Center
- Havenwood-Heritage Heights
- Hillsborough House Nursing Home
- John H. Whitaker Place
- Lakes Region General Hospital
- Merrimack County Nursing Home
- Mountain Ridge Center
- Mountain View Community
- Peabody Home
- Pleasant View Center
- Presidential Oaks
- Rose Meadow Acres
- St. Francis Rehabilitation and Nursing Center
- Taylor Community
- The Birches at Concord
- Villa Crest Nursing and Retirement Center
- Wolfeboro Bay
Hospice House
The Hospice House is a warm, personalized home that includes 24-hour skilled nursing care for terminally ill patients and their families. Some of the amenities of the Hospice House include a pull-out sofa bed in each room for family and friends to sleep, a personalized menu, a family kitchen area, and a Multi-Faith Meditation Room. There is also access to a computer for e-mail and Internet, and an outside walking path and garden area.
In 1994, Hospice House opened to provide community members with a peaceful and supportive end-of-life journey. Through the years, it has often been described as a place where families can be families. Patients find comfort and peace as they are surrounded by family and friends and supported by a caring and professional staff.
There are times community hospice patients benefit from being care for at Hospice House following a progression of their illness.
Specialized Training
Many of our nurses are certified in hospice and palliative care.
If you choose to add personal home services to your plan of care, please note that our homemakers, personal care service providers, and licensed nursing assistants (hospice aides) must undergo a background investigation, attend a two-day agency orientation, complete extensive training and specialized education with our Staff Development Nurse, and shadow experienced team members performing visits in patient homes.
Specialized education provided to our team members focus on:
- Alzheimer’s
- Disease
- Dementia
- Delirium
- Depression
- Anxiety
All team members meet specific competencies and demonstrate their skills to the Staff Development Nurse prior to providing care independently. They are retested on these competencies yearly.
Common Misconceptions
- Hospice is where you go when there is nothing more a doctor can do. Hospice is care designed for patients with a terminal illness. Hospice is not where you go to die, rather hospice professionals are trained to assist patients in living their lives fully, completely, and without pain until the end of their lives.
- To be eligible for hospice, I have to be in the final stages of dying. Hospice patients and families receive care for an unlimited amount of time, depending upon the course of the illness. There is no fixed limit on the amount of time a patient may continue to receive hospice services.
- Quality care at the end of life is very expensive. Medicare beneficiaries pay little or nothing for hospice. For those ineligible for Medicare, most insurance plans, HMOs, and managed care plans cover hospice care.
- If I chose hospice care, I have to leave my home. Hospice care is provided wherever the patient may be: in their own home or a family member's, a nursing home, or an assisted living facility. Hospice is also provided in hospitals and Concord Regional VNA Hospice House.
- Families are not able to care for people with life-limiting illnesses. Family members are encouraged, supported, and trained by hospice professionals to care for their loved ones. Hospice staff is on call to the patient and their families 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to help family and friends care for their loved ones.
- Hospice care is only for cancer or AIDS patients. Fifty percent of hospice patients are diagnosed with conditions other than cancer or AIDS.
- Hospice is just for the elderly. Hospice is for anyone facing a terminal illness, regardless of age.
- There's no hospice in my area. Less than one percent of Medicare beneficiaries live in an area where hospice is not available.
- After the patient's death, hospice care ends. Bereavement services and grief support are available to family members for up to one year after the death of a patient.
Used by permission from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.