Evergreen Hospice Services

Hospice Care

Hospice care can help.

Hospice care is more than just medical care for the terminally ill.  Much like physicians and midwives prepare families for the birth of a child, the hospice team helps families prepare for the death of a loved one by:

• Helping families understand what is happening, and preparing them for what might happen next.
• Working with families to focus on time that is rich in quality, if not quantity.
• Helping families prepare emotionally and create time for closure; time to say “goodbye” and “I love you.”

Hospice care helps patients live as fully as possible until the end of life.

For most hospice patients, this means being able to stay in their homes, in familiar surroundings with their family, friends, pets and comfortable routine. Our hospice team makes this possible by providing expert pain and symptom management, as well as emotional and spiritual support – all tailored to the patient's and family's needs and wishes.

Spiritual Care and Chapel

The Spiritual Care Department provides emotional and spiritual support to patients, family members and staff. It also offers a variety of outreach programs for faith communities.

Evergreen Hospital Chapel

The Evergreen Hospital chapel provides a soothing, welcoming place for patients and family members.

The chapel is open around the clock, and is located in the first-floor lobby of the Silver zone near the top of the escalators.

Guests are welcome to leave prayer requests in the Prayer Request Book In the back of the chapel. These prayers are read daily by the hospital chaplains.

The nondenominational chapel was made possible by the generosity of Elling and Barbara Halvorson, longtime friends of Evergreen.

Grief and Bereavement

The death of a loved one is an emotionally intense and deeply personal experience.

While each person may react to the loss differently, there are many common threads that weave through the experience of grief. The emotional, physical, cognitive, and spiritual responses to the death may be surprising and intense.

Evergreen Grief and Bereavement Services is available to provide support and education for all persons in our community who have experienced a loss through death.

These services include:

• Support groups
• Consultation with bereavement staff
• Referrals for individual counseling
• Reading materials which address both general and specific issues of grief and bereavement
• Annual memorial services

Hospice Care Team

Members of the Hospice care team have one goal – to bring comfort to those facing a life-limiting illness. They each have special expertise in the management of physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

Hospice medical director provides expert advice to the team and is available for consultation.

Hospice nurses make regularly scheduled visits to the patient providing expert pain management and symptom control techniques. Nurses provide the complete spectrum of skilled nursing care and are available by phone around the clock.

Hospice social workers provide assistance with practical and financial concerns as well as emotional support, counseling and bereavement follow-up.

Hospice pharmacists provide consultation for medication management.

Certified nursing assistants help with the personal care of the patient.

Hospice and Palliative Care volunteers offer a compassionate presence in the home and are available to help with errands, household chores, and providing companionship to the patient.

Spiritual Care offers spiritual support to patients and families, often serving as a liaison between the family and their religious community. The spiritual care team may assist with memorial services and funeral arrangements.

Bereavement Services help families cope with the reality of the loss. Support from trained bereavement volunteers is available for up to thirteen months.