March 19, 2024

Help for heart disease from HCI Hospice Care Services

February is American Heart Month, a time to fight heart disease, which kills one in three Americans. Sadly, many of those individuals and their families could have benefitted from the wide range of services hospice care provides.

Many people do not realize hospice cares for those with all terminal illnesses — not just cancer.  Even though heart disease is the No. 1 killer in both men and women, only 15 percent of hospice admissions across the nation have a primary diagnosis of heart disease.

As organizations like the American Heart Association push for more research into women and heart disease, more women are surviving heart attacks and living with heart disease. That is why HCI Hospice Care Services is joining the fight and going red in February in honor of American Heart Month.

“Many women assume their greatest health risk is cancer,” said Lauren Livingston, health strategies coordinator with American Heart Association. “They do not realize that the No. 1 killer of women is heart disease or that more women die from heart disease every year than men.”

Behind cancer, heart disease is the second leading diagnosis among hospice patients.  Other leading diagnoses include debility, dementia (which includes Alzheimer’s disease) and lung disease.

It is important to note some of these illnesses may occur together. Common diseases occurring with heart disease include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), dementia, diabetes, liver disease, neoplasm, stroke, Lou Gehrig’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and renal failure.

Patients with any of these diseases need not wait for their doctors to call hospice; anyone can make a referral for hospice care.

Some common indicators of when hospice care could help include: increased dependence on others to help with activities of daily living; difficulty with daily activities; frequent hospitalizations in the last six months, documented weight loss and/or decreased appetite.

If the individual is not yet a candidate for hospice care, HCI Hospice Care Services’ staff will make every attempt to refer the patient and family to other resources and will follow up with the patient and family at a later date.

“While the majority of the patients served by hospices have a primary diagnosis of cancer, we must educate our communities about the services we can provide for all terminal diagnoses like end-stage heart disease,” said Tray Wade, senior vice president of patient and family care for HCI Care Services.

All adults should discuss their wishes for treatment with their physicians and should provide a copy of their advance directives for the medical file before an illness progresses or is even diagnosed, as these may be changed at any time.

If you have questions about completing advance directives, including living wills and durable power of attorney for health care forms, or if you think you or a loved one could benefit from hospice care, visit hcicareservices.org or contact your local HCI Hospice Care Services office.

About HCI Hospice Care Services

HCI Hospice Care Services is an independent, not-for-profit organization committed to providing excellent hospice care to patients and compassionate support for their families.

The organization serves 44 counties from locally staffed offices caring for individuals in their homes, in assisted living facilities, in nursing care facilities or hospitals.

Around-the-clock care is also available at HCI Hospice Care Services’ residential hospice houses, the Kavanagh Houses in Des Moines, Greater Regional Hospice Home in Creston and the Hospice with Heart Hospice House in Glenwood.

HCI Hospice Care Services is a program of HCI Care Services and is also a community partner of Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa. For more information, call HCI Hospice Care Services at 1-800-806-9934 or visit www.hcicareservices.org. HCI Care Services is also on Facebook and Twitter.