Hospice Care Available to Shore Area Families

Shore area residents facing a terminal illness can get help navigating the very difficult road toward death.

On WOBM-AM's Townsquare Tonight, Chaplain Bill Meyer of the Barnabas Health Van Dyke Hospice and Palliative Care Center, talks about the kinds of people who choose hospice services.

According to Meyer, hospice is about helping people to live with a terminal disease. He said people who choose hospice generally have used very aggressive medical treatments to battle their terminal illness for a long time. "Most people who come on hospice, they say, 'my goal is to be comfortable and to have as good of quality of life as I can for as long as possible. I'm really not going to use aggressive medical interventions anymore'," explained Meyer.

Meyer said choosing hospice is not about giving up. "It's important for people understand that they're not giving up the fight. They're just fighting it in a different way. Now what they're fighting for is quality for as long as possible and to be able to be present with their family and to meet those end of life goals," explained Meyer.

However, hospice is not just about the people who are dying but it's for their loved ones as well, to help them walk through end of life issues. "One of the things that we try to do is try to help people celebrate that person's life. We try to give them instructions about how to deal with a person as they move toward death and what to do," he explained.

Meyer said they offer medical support, pain management, counseling and an army of compassionate volunteers.

Listen to his full interview on Townsquare Tonight

Get more information about the Barnabas Health Van Dyke Hospice and Palliative Care Center at barnabashealthhospice.org