Spring, 2008

Younger Patients Often Need a Hospice House

People who are unfamiliar with hospice often assume that it is primarily a program for the elderly, facing death following a long and productive life. Often, this is the case, but certainly not always. Whatcom Hospice professionals are beginning to see an increasing number of much younger patients, many of whom could benefit from a hospice residence – an option not currently available in Whatcom County.

One such patient is a young mother in her thirties who has been battling life-threatening illness for more than 10 years.  Although she survived a transplant, she is now dying. Her financial resources have been exhausted and her insurance depleted. With no available caregivers at home, her only option at this point is a nursing home, where the average resident is more than twice her age.  Because she must rely on state aid, she must share a room, and has little opportunity for private visits from her children and other loved ones. For this young woman, a home-like private room in a Hospice House would be a much more compassionate option. While skilled nursing facilities are understandably focused on rehabilitation, hospice residences focus on providing comfort, serenity and dignity at the end of life, and on supporting the whole family through the difficult process.

Another current patient is a man in his fifties with rapidly progressing cancer.  Because he is single and his immediate family all have full-time jobs and other obligations, like the young mother, he had had no choice but to move to a nursing home where his pain and anxiety can be managed.  Like her, however, he must share a room with another man, thus depriving his family of the chance to openly grieve and be supported in this process in the privacy he certainly deserves at the end of his life.

Whatcom Hospice can, and does, provide significant help to terminally ill patients wherever they live. But Whatcom Hospice Foundation is committed to building a Hospice House in Bellingham to better serve those who cannot be cared for at home. Visit the Hospice House portion of this website for more information.

@ 2008 Whatcom Hospice Foundation