Hospice Social Workers (How hospice social workers help patients and their families)

Above & Beyond Hospice Care offers comfort to patients and their families at a difficult time. Hospice social workers play an important part in helping patients and their families. A hospice social worker is certified (MSW^[1]) to guide in end of life matters.

How Hospice Social Workers Help Patients & Their Families

Once you’ve made the decision to choose hospice care you will meet with various members of the hospice team. The “HSW” plays an important part of the hospice “team.” A hospice team can consist of caregivers, physicians, nurses, clergy and the hospice social worker.

These are some of the ways the hospice social worker can help patients & their families:

• Assist in finding respite care.
• Help provide information & guidance with funeral planning.
• While the hospice social worker is there to help guide the family through the end of life process they will also remain available for bereavement support. Equally important to the end of life process is the understanding & dealing with the tasks of grief.
• Extending various types of counsel; including but not limited to:
  • Initially counseling the family & patient on the natural path ahead. This includes explaining the transitions that the body goes through as it approaches the end of life.
  • Providing or leading the family to financial counseling. In particular it is important that paperwork is in order to handle the estate of your loved one. Assuming this is done, there may be other financial work to address regarding current bills.
  • Provide emotional counseling for a variety of situations. For example, helping to extinguish volatile situations if there are conflicts about care.

You decide how involved all members of your hospice team will be. Without doubt, your hospice team is vital to a comfortable, dignified & knowledgeable approach to a time in life that can be overwhelming. Hence the importance of this team and the part each member plays.

The Role of Hospice Social Workers

While it’s up to the family how much of a role the hospice social worker plays, they are available to provide help to everyone. In fact their role continues with the family even after their loved one is gone.

• Bereavement – Grief is a very natural part of losing someone you care about. Every person deals with grief in their own way.
• Emotional Support – Providing emotional support for both the patient and the members of the family is important. Beyond the care of the patient we include activities such as Camp Horizon for children.
• Community Support – The importance of involving the community cannot be understated. Having others who are going through what you are going through is important too. One way of doing this locally is through our Memorial Garden.

Our Hospice Social Workers Are Here for You

Our hospice care and bereavement services can help families or individuals during the end of life process & after. You are welcome to contact us about our hospice care & bereavement services. Our hospice social workers are here to help patients and their families in a time of need and after.

[1] MSW – Medical Social Worker

Photo by Neville Wootton Photography