Physical Comfort

During the last phase of life, there are several predictable areas in which a person needs help, comfort and reassurance. The role of hospice and palliative care is to ease the stress and difficulty inherent in the dying process. Ideas are presented here for providing comfort for three challenging processes that dying people encounter: physical, psycho-social, and spiritual.

Dying can be hard work, physically. In many cases, it is neither relaxing nor passive; there can be strain on many levels. Physical challenge requires satisfaction of the body’s needs. The goal is to reduce stress and ease the transition from life to death, by making the body as comfortable as possible. Physical comforts can relieve a great deal of stress, from a peaceful environment and appropriate food and water, to touch, medication management and other helpful palliative measures.

According to Atul Gawande, MD in his August, 2010 New Yorker article “Letting Go,” the five priorities of terminally ill patients are:

 

Contact Us

info@SOFriendsOfHospice.org

Southern Oregon
Friends of Hospice
P.O. Box 1182
Ashland, Oregon 97520

Phone: 541-488-7805

Hospice Unique Boutique (HUB) website

HUB Calendar of Events [PDF]

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Thank You for Donating

Southern Oregon Friends of Hospice raises funds to supplement regional end-of-life care programs.

Donate online:

Click the button below to donate to SOFOH through the secure server at PayPal.

Donate by mail:

Fill out and print a Donation Form (pdf) and mail it with your check.

Southern Oregon Friends of Hospice gifts include:

  • Providing educational material to patients and families, as well as emergency assistance for heating, electricity and transportation costs.
  • Funding a day trip as respite care for overwhelmed family members of a dying patient.
  • Supplying respite caregivers for a family exhausted from 24-hour care-giving.
  • Reimbursing harpists providing music therapy, and massage therapists providing therapeutic touch for hospice patients.
  • Offering bereavement support groups and training for volunteer grief counselors.