Terminal Illness

Houston Hospice Volunteer of the Year 2021 – Jerri Trigg

Houston Hospice Volunteer of the Year 2021 is Jerri Trigg

Jerri Trigg, Volunteer of the Year

Each year, our Volunteer Team thoughtfully selects the Houston Hospice Volunteer of the Year from over 120 wonderful and generous people. This year’s special altruist was selected for going above and beyond general duties to help hospice patients, families, and staff during one of the most challenging year’s the world has seen. We are pleased to share that Jerri Trigg has been named 2021 Houston Hospice Volunteer of the Year!

“Over her seven years of volunteer work at Houston Hospice, Jerri has donated her time and talent in so many valuable ways,” said Patty Valle, Volunteer Manager, Houston Hospice. “She has worked directly with patients and families, assisted in our Texas Medical Center business office and Northwest office, delivered Thanksgiving dinner to a family in need, decorated holiday wreaths that adorned our in-patient unit, delivered elusive cans of  Lysol and N95 masks to help keep us safe during the pandemic, and so much more! We are grateful to Jerri for her generosity, kindness, and dedication to Houston Hospice,” continued Patty.

Jerri’s path to Houston Hospice began when her parents were in hospice care one year apart from each other. In both cases, the family experienced compassion, caring, patient and informative guidance during their journey through the end-of-life process. These quality-of-life experiences had a positive impact on Jerri and encouraged her volunteer efforts.

“I have always volunteered and participated in fundraising events throughout the community,” recalled Jerri. “After my own experiences with hospice, I always said I would like to give back in some way. Then, a friend of mine shared information about an upcoming  Butterfly Luncheon.  I was surprised to find out that it  was hospice for children and that really touched me! I attended the luncheon, and as they say, the rest is history,” she proudly stated.

Houston Hospice Volunteers are an integral part of our multi-disciplinary team, are carefully vetted and thoroughly trained to focus on improving the quality of life of patients with a serious illness. Each team consists of seven members – a physician, nurse, social worker, chaplain, bereavement counselor, hospice aide and volunteer. This specialized group of people provide a unique care plan for each individual patient, and their family, throughout the hospice care experience and the bereavement process. It takes a great deal of courage and compassion to be a hospice volunteer.

“Volunteering at Houston Hospice has been a positive and rewarding experience,” said Jerri. “I have met so many wonderful people here. Our many volunteers are like a big, caring family and I am so honored to be a part of this organization,” she beamed.

Houston Hospice is grateful to Volunteer of the Year 2021 Jerri Trigg, and to all her fellow volunteers, for the time, talent, and compassion they have invested to ensure patients and families receive the best possible end-of-life care they truly deserve.

For more information about volunteering at Houston Hospice, visit www.houstonhospice.org/volunteers.

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Houston Hospice Virtual Tour

Established in 1980 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Houston Hospice’s mission is to provide uncompromising, compassionate, end-of-life care to patients and families in our community. Join us in the Houston Hospice Virtual Tour.

As a member of the prestigious Texas Medical Center, we work closely with doctors, hospitals, and assisted living facilities to provide a holistic approach to hospice care. We are proud to say that we care for the whole patient and their families across 10 Texas counties. In addition to our specialized approach, you will have opportunities to be with your loved one when they truly need you the most. Take a virtual tour of our facility, located at 1905 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, Texas 77030. Here, you will see our private rooms, serene chapel, and The Garden at Houston Hospice, maintained by The Garden Club of Houston. We also provide care for patients at home or their facility of choice. To find out more, give us a call 24/7 at 713-468-2441 , or visit our website at www.houstonhospice.org.

About Houston Hospice
Houston Hospice is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides compassionate, end-of-life care to all patients and families across 10 counties in the Greater Houston Area. Established in 1980, we are the oldest, largest, independent, nonprofit hospice in Houston and a member of the Texas Medical Center.

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How Do I Make My Uncle Comfortable in Hospice Care?

Published in Collegian by Jacob Maslow
My uncle has a terminal disease, and after years of fighting, he has been given just a few months to live. He is going to be put in hospice care at-home, and I would like to make him as comfortable as possible. Do you have any recommendations on what I can do to make sure his last days are comfortable?

Hospice doesn’t mean that your loved one will be gone in a month or two. In general, hospice means that a patient will live for six months or less. But we’ve all heard stories of a person living for much longer than their doctors suggest. Doctors often underestimate the time a person has left to live, and if the person lives longer, no one generally complains.

The goal will be to keep your loved one comfortable.

Hospice care will help with pain management, and this is best left to the professionals. Hospice caregivers will come to the home and ensure that your loved one is giving the best pain medication and following their treatment plans. But you can help in other ways. As a person becomes weaker, they’ll have trouble with everyday tasks, even including eating and balancing. Independent living aids can help a lot.


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Arrangements to Make When You or a Loved One Has Terminal Illness

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, you are likely to be flooded with emotion and may be unsure of the next step to take. It’s overwhelming to receive such life-changing news. Take the time you need to digest and process this information, then begin to prepare for the next steps. There are practical arrangements that need to be made to help make the coming days easier. Let’s discuss a few important arrangements to take care of that can benefit not only you but also your surviving loved ones.

Determine Plan of Care
When you have received the terminal diagnosis, one area to consider is your plan of care. First, talk to your doctor regarding available treatments and whether they are in your best interest. They may not save your life, but they may extend it. You also want to consider whether you would like to receive palliative care. According to Verywell Health, palliative care can begin at diagnosis, unlike hospice, and will help improve your quality of life and ease your symptoms. Patients receiving palliative care often live longer, experiencing relief from ailments and discomforts. Research which company you would like to receive care from and discuss the anticipated timeline of care with your doctor and loved ones.
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Study: Hospice Concurrent With Cancer Treatment Reduces Costs

Published in hospicenews.com by Jim Parker

A study of more than 13,000 veterans in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs) found that patients receiving hospice care concurrent with chemotherapy or radiation therapy were less likely to use aggressive treatments or be admitted to intensive care compared to similar patients who were not enrolled in hospice, significantly reducing medical costs.

Unlike organizations reimbursed through the Medicare Hospice Benefit, the Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA) does not require hospice patients to forgo curative care, making VAMCs a prime environment for researching concurrent treatments.


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NHPCO Highlights Importance of Hospice in Healthcare Since 70s

November begins National Hospice & Palliative Care Month. National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) writes that hat began as primarily a volunteer-driven, grassroots movement in the 1970’s, is now an integrated part of our nation’s health care delivery system that provides care to more than 1.43 million Medicare beneficiaries and their families every year.

“Enacted as a demonstration in 1978 and a Medicare benefit in 1982 as our nation’s first coordinated care model, hospice programs have served millions of Americans and their families with compassionate care to relieve pain, manage symptoms, support patients and their family caregivers, and provided bereavement services for individuals following the death of a loved one,” said Edo Banach, president and CEO of NHPCO. “The benefit has been invaluable to patients and lifesaving for families.”

NHPCO offers a snapshot of hospice care with representative statistics from the current edition of its report, Facts and Figures: Hospice Care in America (PDF):

NHPCO provides a valuable abundance of resources with data and statistics on hospice. The organization is integral to a broad spectrum of efforts in leading the public’s understanding of hospice and palliative care and advancing the ever more vital role of hospice across the healthcare industry.

In addition, this month honors the home care and hospice community including the millions of nurses, home care aides, therapists, and social workers who make a remarkable difference for the patients and families they serve.

These heroic caregivers play a central role in our health care system and in homes across the nation.
  • In 2018, home care providers will travel about 8 billion miles to deliver the best health care in the world’
  • Ninety percent of Americans want to age in place, and home care is the preferred method of health care delivery among the disabled, elderly, and chronically ill; and
  • Home care provides high-quality, compassionate care to more than 5 million Americans annually.

As we approach the giving season, November is the perfect time to recognize their efforts.

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How AI can improve end-of-life care

Published in Stanford Medicine’s SCOPE by Amy Jeter Hansen

It’s hard to wrap your brain around. It’s hard to even type these words, but here they are: it’s useful for physicians to be able to predict when a patient will die.

Photo by Edward Caldwell

Don’t misunderstand. It’s not about playing God or acting nefarious. It’s about doctors being able to help patients die on their own terms, as comfortably as possible, having received the best, most appropriate care.

In the new issue of Stanford Medicine magazine, writer Kris Newby describes a Stanford pilot program that marries technology and compassion, artificial intelligence and palliative care, with the aim of helping doctors better understand which patients could benefit from end-of-life conversations while there is still time.

In the article, palliative care physician Stephanie Harman, MD, tells Newby:

Ideally with this AI model, we’re identifying patients who are sicker than we realize… And it gives us an excuse to say, ‘It’d be great if we could talk about advanced care planning.’ Or, ‘Have you had a discussion with your regular doctor about what matters most to you if and when you get sicker?’ I think the twist is that we’re using machine learning to add more to a patient’s care without taking anything away.

Developed by Nigam Shah, MBBS, PhD, the model uses an algorithm to calculate the probability that a patient will die within the next 12 months, based on comparisons of the past year of the patient’s medical history with records of millions of other patients. Many factors are considered, including the number of hospital admissions, disease classification codes and prescription codes.

The tool provides Harman with a daily report of newly-admitted hospital patients who have a 90 percent or higher probability of dying in three to 12 months. Harman reviews the medical records to decide if the patients have palliative care needs. “She’s found the list to be helpful,” the article explains, “and she sees how it can improve hospital care and enable her to spend more time with the most critical patients.”

This is important because, as the article notes, less than half of admitted hospital patients who need palliative care actually receive it. And many more people would want to die at home than actually do.

Hopefully, tools like this will help.

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Advance directives: How to talk with patients about them

Published in AMA Wire

A patient’s comfort in contemplating, completing or even discussing an advance directive can greatly depend on what the physician has to say and offer.

It is often an awkward situation, in large part because many patients only see the advance-directives process in terms of suffering and death. That does not have to be the case.

“When physicians approach advance-care planning from the aspect of living well and quality of life, then patients feel reassured and then they want to engage with you and tell you what matters most,” according to internist VJ Periyakoil, MD, director of palliative care education and training at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Dr. Periyakoil wrote the “Planning for End-of-Life Decisions with Your Patients,” online physician education module.

The module is part of the AMA STEPS Forward™ collection of more than 50 practice-improvement education modules. It is part of the AMA’s strong support of advance directives and the help it provides to physicians on end-of-life matters, including guidance from the AMA Code of Medical Ethics.

Medicare also has helped spur interest in advance directives, with payment starting in 2016 for every patient to have a voluntary consultation on the matter with a physician or qualified health care professional. This benefit has been widely used, with about 14,000 providers billing almost $35 million in the first year.

A recent review of 150 studies of advance directives found more than a third of Americans have them, in some form or another. That leaves a large majority—many with the most immediate need for advance directives—without written instructions that will protect their intentions or provide for trusted family or friends to make care decisions if they are unable.

A focus on what matters most

The CME credit-eligible module from the AMA is based on the Stanford University Department of Medicine’s Letter Project. The module’s central, downloadable element is a three-page letter template that in plain language guides the patient through expressing life values and goals, as well as care instructions such as palliative sedation.

The letter template is available in eight languages and written at a fifth-grade reading level. Patients can complete the letter by themselves or be aided by patient navigators or other clinicians. At Stanford, completed letters are scanned into the patient’s electronic medical record using a barcode.

Though not a formal advance directive or living will—those are governed on a state-by-state basis—the letter can be used as a worksheet to help patients express their wishes in simple language. A physician can include the letter in a patient’s medical record as patient-generated health data.

The module provides detailed advice about how to initiate the conversation. Dr. Periyakoil said her approach is to “normalize” the process by saying, “I ask this of all my patients.”

In that way, “patients don’t feel that they are singled out for this.” Her goal, she assures them, is “to provide you with the best possible care and to do that it really helps me to understand what matters most to you.”

The letter provides check boxes for standard end-of-life care questions and space for naming the individuals who can make medical decisions if the patient is unable, but starts and devotes most of its space for patient to write about what’s most important to in terms of what’s important in life:

“The physician can then move in confidence with clinical care that is in sync at all times with what the patient wants. Physicians often give medical advice or make care plans in a vacuum, “and we know very little about the patient as a person,” said Dr. Periyakoil.

“It is incredibly important to know everything there is to know about the disease,” she added. “It is equally important to know about the patient’s life goals and values,  so that the care we provide is guided by what matters most to the patient. .”

AMA’s STEPS Forward is an open-access platform featuring more than 50 modules that offer actionable, expert-driven strategies and insights supported by practical resources and tools.

Based on best practices from the field, STEPS Forward modules empower practices to identify areas or opportunities for improvement, set meaningful and achievable goals, and implement transformative changes designed to increase operational efficiencies, elevate clinical team engagement, and improve patient care.

Several modules have been developed from the generous grant funding of the federal Transforming Clinical Practices Initiative (TCPI), an effort designed to help clinicians achieve large-scale health transformation through TCPI’s Practice Transformation Networks.

The AMA, in collaboration with TCPI, is providing technical assistance and peer-level support by way of STEPS Forward resources to enrolled practices. The AMA is also engaging the national physician community in health care transformation through network projects, change packages, success stories and training modules.

 

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Mesothelioma Patients to Learn about Hospice

Published in mesothelioma.net

Palliative care experts are using the occasion of Aretha Franklin’s death to urge mesothelioma patients and others diagnosed with terminal illnesses to learn about hospice care and understand that it provides far more than just a “days before” benefit. Franklin’s family announced that she would be entering hospice care just three days before she died, less than the national median length of stay in hospice which is just slightly over three weeks and far less than the amount of time that the service is available. According to palliative care experts, when announcements are made that celebrities are entering hospice just days before their deaths, it confirms the public’s impression that hospice is a place to go before you die, rather than its actual goal of anticipating, preventing and managing patient suffering. The earlier mesothelioma patients enter hospice care, the more benefit they are able to get and the greater the improvement in their quality of life.

People diagnosed with mesothelioma who are considering hospice care would do well to learn about those celebrities who have used it to its fullest: columnist and author Art Buchwald called the five months he was in hospice “the best time of [his] life”, where he was able to continue working, seeing friends and dying with a minimum of discomfort, in a warm and comforting environment. Palliative care professionals are working to spread this news and reframe the narrative about what hospice care from “nothing more we can do” to “living as well as you can for as long as you can” writes Jennifer Moore Ballentine, executive director of the CSU Institute for Palliative Care, based at Cal State San Marcos.

In an article she wrote for the San Diego Union Tribune, Ballentine urges family members and physicians alike to remember that palliative care is available for mesothelioma patients and others with a life expectancy of six months or less who are no longer seeking treatment. Unfortunately, a study in the AMA Journal of Ethics found that specialty physicians are less likely to suggest palliative care than are family and internal medicine clinicians. Much of this is due to the challenge of having difficult conversations.

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you are already aware that the rare form of cancer has no cure. If you would like information on the benefits of palliative care or any other resources to support you as you face this challenging disease, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net today at 1-800-692-8608.

 

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How AI could improve the quality of end-of-life care

Published in venturebeat.com by Scott Bay

The means to predict mortality using artificial intelligence could be a transformative factor in the future of palliative health care. While this topic may seem a bit morbid, AI has the potential to help medical care providers and doctors significantly improve the delivery of patient care in hospice situations.

Getting the right kind of treatment at the end-of-life stage is more important than many assume. Not enough treatment — or even inaccurate treatment — can provide a painful experience for patients, and overcare may result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecessary medical bills, even if the patient is covered by insurance. While it’s crucial to select the proper medical coverage that includes hospice care regardless of the situation — especially for people over 65 or older, because there are specific plans for specific purposes to help with these medical costs — AI advances may help patients and physicians determine illness sooner to prepare for end-of-life costs and treatments before it’s too late.

A recent study in the journal NPJ Digital Medicine shows that technology will soon allow physicians to improve the timing and delivery of patient care. Researchers used AI to scan electronic health records (EHR) and notes doctors left in patient records to detect potential clinical problems and health risks. The AI system predicted patient mortality rate and final diagnoses more accurately and quickly than physicians. So how does it work?

Using deep learning for patient insight

In the NPJ study, researchers fed almost 48 billion data points (including doctors’ patient notes, patient demographics, procedures, medications, lab results, and vital signs) into a deep learning model. This model analyzed the data and predicted, with 90 percent accuracy, medical issues like mortality rates, longer hospital stay lengths, unplanned readmissions, and patients’ final diagnoses. When compared to traditional predictive models, the deep learning model was more accurate and scalable.

For example, a woman in the final stages of breast cancer came to a city hospital with fluid already in her lungs. Two doctors reviewed her case, and she received a radiology scan. The hospital’s traditional predictive model reviewed her chart and estimated there was a 9.3 percent chance she would die in-hospital. A new type of algorithm (created by Google) reviewed the woman’s chart — about 175,639 data points — and estimated her death risk at an actual 19.9 percent. The patient passed away in a matter of days, proving the algorithm model to be more accurate.

Compared to the traditional method, the deep learning model was 10 percent more accurate. The system’s ability to sift through data that was previously unavailable helped it provide a more accurate mortality estimation. Rather than looking at a few risk factors, the model looks at the patient’s entire electronic health record (EHR), including notes buried deep in PDFs or scribbled on old charts. Using this process, in the future, may enable doctors to save lives and provide better patient care.

Saving lives and money

So what can we do with this information? With more accurate predictions of a patient’s mortality, hospitals and doctors can use better estimations to adjust treatment plans, prioritize patient care, and predict negative outcomes before they occur. In addition to this, health care workers wouldn’t have to spend as much time manipulating patient data into a standardized, legible format.

For example, a report by Futurism notes that Ultromics, an AI diagnostics system developed in England, can diagnose heart disease more accurately than doctors. The same report notes that a startup bot called Optellum is working on an AI system that can diagnose lung cancer by analyzing clumps of cells found in scans. This bot shows promise to diagnose 4,000 additional lung cancer cases per year and at an earlier rate than doctors are currently capable of diagnosing.

Not only can these AI diagnostics systems save lives, but they can also help hospitals save money. In an interview for Futurism‘s report, Timor Kadir, Optellum’s chief science and technology officer, stated that the AI system could cut health care industry costs by $13.5 billion. Sir John Bell, chair of the U.K.’s Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research, added, “There is about $2.97 billion spent on pathology services in the National Health Service. You may be able to reduce that by 50 percent.”

Predicting death for better care

Current research shows that less than half of the eight percent of patients who need palliative care actually receive it. There are times when doctors make inaccurate or overly optimistic prognoses about a patient. Dr. Kenneth Jung, a research scientist at Stanford University School of Medicine, told NBC, “Doctors may not make the referral [for palliative care] simply because they’re so focused on managing their patients’ health issues that palliative care doesn’t cross their minds.”

Failing to identify patients who need palliative care can have devastating consequences. If the patient’s health suddenly declines, they may spend their final days receiving aggressive medical treatments in hopes of extending their lives by a few weeks. However, studies have shown that approximately 80 percent of Americans would prefer to die at home, rather than in a hospital. Sadly, the report also notes that 60 percent of these people die in acute care hospitals.

It’s in these cases that AI can help identify patients who are critically ill and might benefit from end-of-life care. Early identification of these patients can help them get the treatment they need sooner. And it may allow patients to remain at home, instead of in the hospital, during their final days.

While some may wonder about the future of AI in health care, the purpose of AI systems is to play a supporting role in the health care industry. These systems will serve as a powerful tool that will help physicians and other health care professionals provide higher quality care and offer palliative treatments in a timely manner.

Scott Bay is a writer who covers AI and Internet of Things for PC Mag, Wired, and Men’s Health.

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