Wellmont Hospice now providing service to Southwest Virginia
Wellmont Hospice, renowned throughout the region for providing superior, compassionate care for people with life-limiting illnesses, is now serving patients in Southwest Virginia.
Jackie Everett, clinical leader for Wellmont Hospice, said service is available to patients in most areas of Wise, Lee, Scott and Dickenson counties.
“So many patients with life-limiting illnesses – and family members of those patients – find hospice services to be a real benefit, and we feel privileged to be serving Southwest Virginia now,” Everett said. “We have Wellmont Hospice staff members who work in Southwest Virginia, who live there, who are part of the community.”
Wellmont Hospice provides a wide range of in-home services that focus on maintaining quality of life and as much comfort as possible for those living with an incurable, life-limiting illness. Hospice staff members address a person’s physical needs – such as management of pain or other symptoms – as well as the emotional needs that can arise for either the patient or the patient’s family members or caregivers.
“Hospice is a very holistic, team approach to care,” Everett said. “We have nurses who can help with medical teaching and pain management and medical social workers who can help patients and families prepare for any issues that arise, such as insurance issues or retirement benefits. There are also home health aides who can help with personal hygiene issues and chaplains or counselors who can help with emotional or spiritual issues.
“It’s really important when people are facing a life-limiting illness that they know they can count on proper hospice support. We can help patients stay in their own home with their family, so they can share and form memories in their own home instead of in an institutional setting.”
Everett said the overriding perception of hospice services is that they are only for people with cancer – but that’s not the case.
“Most people do think it’s only for cancer patients, but that’s not true,” Everett said. “Hospice can be a choice for patients with a number of end-stage chronic diseases, including chronic lung disease, renal disease, Alzheimer’s, dementia and ALS.”
For those who do need inpatient hospice care, either for the final days of life or for temporary respite care, such as when a home caregiver is out of town, Wellmont Hospice House is located on the campus of Bristol Regional Medical Center – Hospice House is the only facility of its kind between Knoxville and Charlottesville, Va. Everett said inpatient hospice services may also be available on a limited basis at Lonesome Pine Hospital in Big Stone Gap.
Whether hospice services are delivered at home or on an inpatient basis, Everett said the important common denominator is that the support of Wellmont Hospice is always available.
“Once a person is involved with our hospice program, then simply by picking up the phone they have access to medical care,” Everett said. “And that care will be available no matter what time of day or night it is, which can prevent someone from having to go to the emergency room or back into the hospital.”
Return to index