We spend our whole lives writing our story: what school we go to, what job we have, who we spend time with. Many times, we fail to write the last chapter. The last chapter is the best part! It’s where the loose ends get tied up. Where the mystery is solved. Yet, most of us don’t have a plan or know where to turn when we or our loved ones become incapacitated. Arkansas Hospice offers a wide range of services for patients and families so that, in healthcare crises, patients can still receive quality care.
Dr. Brian Bell, chief medical officer for Arkansas Hospice, recently went on an episode of AFMC TV to discuss their “family of care” model. Arkansas Hospice offers a wide range of services and programs for patients and families facing life-limiting illnesses.
A Family-Centered Approach
Dame Cicely Saunders founded the first modern hospice program and was responsible for establishing the multidisciplinary focus and overall culture of palliative care. “Dame Saunders popularized the idea of total pain, which includes physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of pain,” Dr. Bell says.
“When you come into hospice, you get all of these aspects met together. We provide a bereavement counselor, a physical therapist, and a chaplain all together in one organization.”
Most medical practices use the patient as their primary focus. For Arkansas Hospice, the family and the patient are both the focus. “In healthcare today, you have several separate groups of care — your primary care provider, pharmacist, and ER doctor. With hospice care, we coalesce all of these groups together,” Dr. Bell explains. “You get a nurse, physician, social worker, all of your medical needs met within one program.”
Arkansas Hospice Care Programs
Arkansas Hospice was founded 30 years ago solely as a hospice program. However, things quickly shifted over time to offer additional programs that meet patients where they are — geographically and in their stage of life.
Expert Care
The expert care program allows patients to receive services where they prefer: at home, in a nursing home, or an inpatient center. Through this program, Arkansas Hospice provides registered nurses who perform scheduled visits, chaplains who offer spiritual assistance, and social workers who care for the patient’s family and caregivers.
Arkansas Palliative Care
“About 8 years ago, we started the Arkansas Palliative Care Program, which takes the principles of the hospice program and provides it to patients who are not in hospice care,” Dr. Bell says. The palliative care program is similar to the hospice program but is available to patients at any stage of their chronic or serious illness.
Arkansas Advanced Care
“During the pandemic, it often took several weeks for patients to get in to see their doctor,” Dr. Bell says. “Because we have such a close relationship with Arkansas physicians, we began contacting them on the patient’s behalf for prescription refills. What we discovered, however, was a need for primary care practice within our program so that we could write the patients’ prescriptions in-house. That’s how we started Arkansas Advanced Care.”
The advanced care program offers a variety of services to patients, including virtual visits with clinicians, at-home medical exams and treatments, remote monitoring, and 24/7 phone support for urgent situations.
“Patients can fit in any of our models,” Dr. Bell says. “If they don’t fit in our hospice program, maybe they’d be a better fit in palliative care.” Because of the variety of programs they offer, staff at Arkansas Hospice interact with patients many years before they enter hospice care. “Before we developed these other programs, we were boxed into a 6-months or less prognosis,” Dr. Bell says. “Now, we’re developing relationships with patients and their families several years before they enter hospice.”
Quality over Quantity
Each of the programs at Arkansas Hospice focuses on quality of life, implementing comfort-based care to patients at any stage in their chronic illness.
“Modern medicine has helped lengthen our lifespans. The problem is, we’re not living better,” Dr. Bell explains. “You may have bought an extra five years, but what have you bought for yourself within those five years?”
Arkansas Hospice helps patients determine what they can do in those five years to improve their lives, whether it be treating their pain or providing care in the comfort of a patient’s home versus at an inpatient center.
Advancing the Healthcare System
Today’s healthcare system is often siloed. A patient sees a primary care physician for general checkups, a specialist for more individualized situations, and an ER doctor for serious illnesses. Each of these providers is like a different phase of healthcare. “In each of these transitions of care, it’s possible that none of these providers are talking to each other,” Dr. Bell says.
Through the Arkansas Hospice family of care model, a team follows the patient through each transition phase under one umbrella, performing warm handoffs from one phase to the next.
“We can literally work with the patient and their family through the stages of their care,” Dr. Bell says. “If a patient is in our hospital program, our team works with them to determine if they still need to continue at the hospital or if they can move to our nursing home program. From there, they may do rehab until they are strong enough to return home. When they do, our palliative care team will check on them for 6-8 months post-rehab. We may enroll them in our primary care program if they get better. If they decline, we enroll them back in the hospital program.”
Respite Care and Caregiver Programs
Patients tend to accept the reality of their situation toward the end of their lives. Family members often don’t. Family members and caregivers experience complex emotions during a patient’s final days. “Arkansas Hospice has programs designed specifically for caregivers and family members,” Dr. Bell says.
Caregiving is a tough job that can take a physical and mental toll on an individual over several years. Some caregivers may not have a single day off for five years. They don’t have time for a vacation, a doctor’s appointment, or a community event because of their obligations. Other respite care programs cost thousands of dollars and may not be a viable alternative for some families.
“For patients in our hospice program, we provide their families with respite care so that family members and caregivers can take a break from caregiving,” Dr. Bell says. “We offer unlimited 5-day stays in a facility if the patient is covered by Medicare. That way, a nurse, caregiver, or family member can stay at home and feel comfortable that their loved one is being cared for by an expert.”
Because it is covered by Medicare, Arkansas Hospice’s respite care program is a much cheaper alternative than a standard respite care program available in the community.
Arkansas Hospice also offers a bereavement program for families of a patient with a chronic or terminal illness. In most healthcare settings, when a patient passes away, the doctor’s commitment to that patient also passes. At Arkansas Hospice, the commitment is just starting.
“We provide free bereavement care to caregivers and families up to 13 months after the patient dies,” Dr. Bell says. “This is what I love most about working for Arkansas Hospice because you can see just how much it means to the patients and families we serve.”
“I have had patients on their deathbed with no family members alive ask me, ‘What is going to happen to my wife when I’m gone?’ With this bereavement program, I can confidently say, ‘We will take care of her. We’ll call her and check up on her to make sure she’s okay, and if she’s not, we’ll provide her the help that she needs.’ Patients love to hear that.”
Bereavement programs allow patients to pass peacefully without worrying that they are abandoning their loved ones. They feel comfortable knowing their loved ones will be cared for when they’re gone.
How to Get Involved
Arkansas Hospice is a nonprofit organization. “To continue providing hospice care, we must dedicate 5% of our work to volunteer time. We always need volunteers,” Dr. Bell says. “There are a variety of services our volunteers can provide, anything from stuffing envelopes to reading to patients in end-of-life care. We love our volunteers. They’re at the heart of what we do.”
Arkansas Hospice also accepts donations. “As a nonprofit, many of our services, like our bereavement service, are not paid for,” Dr. Bell says. “That 13 months of support for the family and caregivers is completely on our dime. We need donations to help all the families and patients in our programs.”
Every year, Arkansas Hospice puts on a Party at the Plaza, a fundraiser event designed to teach the public about palliative care, learn about Arkansas Hospice’s programs, and gain more knowledge about prepping for end-of-life care. This year’s Party at the Plaza will take place on Saturday, April 27 at Argenta Plaza in North Little Rock.
“We have local bands that play and an event for kids. Hospice care and parties don’t really go together, but we believe it’s a chance to show support and educate the public,” Dr. Bell says. “All the money raised at this event goes directly toward helping Arkansas patients and their families enrolled in our programs.”
Contacts and Referrals
“If you feel like hospice care is something you or your loved one would want, give us a call. You don’t need a referral. We’ll send a team out to you to evaluate and determine if your situation is appropriate for one of our programs,” Dr. Bell says.
Call 501-748-3333 to learn more about Arkansas Hospice or visit their website for contact information for each program.
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