In Western medicine, hospice is considered the end of the road.
The intention behind hospice care is to maintain as much comfort and dignity as possible for a patient who is unlikely to recover from their illness or condition.
In order for insurance to cover hospice care, a physician has to be willing to attest that the patient is unlikely to live more than six months.
But what if there was another way to view hospice care?
What if, instead of the end, hospice could be considered a time of rest and–in the best cases–a new beginning?
This kind of optimism, combined with expertise in the restorative value of gut health and inner vitality, is exactly what healthcare keynote speakers are offering to the world of hospice care. By presenting these principles in an accessible and powerful way, wellness keynote speakers are
Hospice: Comfort Begins Within
When a patient chooses to begin hospice care, many see it as a sort of surrender. But this doesn’t have to be the case.
Treatments can continue, and new strategies can even be attempted.
But in hospice, comfort and dignity are at the top of the priority list.
A patient is hospice may have difficulty caring for themselves, obtaining their medications and shopping for basic needs.
But the fact that a patient can’t go to the grocery store themselves does not meant that they have to give up control of their diet, or even stop exercising.
The body functions best when it spends time in motion every day, when it is fed the most nourishing foods that it is able to digest, and when it gets quality rest.
A body that is not functioning well is an uncomfortable body, no matter how many times the patient’s pillows are fluffed and how frequently they are able to bathe.
Keynote speakers whose thematic content centers around health and vitality will be quick to affirm that even a hospice patient who is unable to leave the bed will benefit from a more nutritive diet, filled with whole natural foods (with a doctor’s input, of course).
Fueling the body well is the first step to deep and true comfort, but it isn’t the only aspect.
Deep Vitality: Important at Every Life Stage
From childhood to the final days, the body is attuned to the rhythms of nature.
Blue light in the evening makes sleep difficult. Red light in the morning signals that the time for wakefulness to come.
Fresh air brings renewal and energy into the lungs, and exercise–even the lightest and mildest of exercise–signals the body that it has worked and functioned and that sleep should commence in the evening.
Far from being the end of any effort on a patient’s behalf, hospice care should be viewed as an opportunity to finish well.
Hospice care should not only consist of medications, meal shakes and basic hygiene.
Every person deserves the feeling of having done something, even if it’s only being pushed outside in a wheelchair and using light weights or doing leg lifts to move the lymph through their limbs.
Comfort and dignity rely on following the natural rhythms of the day-night cycle: arise, move, lie down and sleep. Making use of natural light cycles and whatever exercise is physically possible can greatly improve the quality of rest that a patient can enjoy, leading to slowed decline, improved cognition and better comfort.
Wellness keynote speakers will be the first to tell you that the benefits of movement, outdoor light and good rest extend to the very last days of life.
Hope in Hospice: Care in the Sunset Months
When hospice care is recommended, many patients find themselves filled with despair.
They feel that the fight for life is over, that entering hospice is a surrender that can never be revoked. Tragically many stop caring about their health at all, thinking that their last few months are doomed to misery and there is no point to further care in regard to their body’s needs.
A healthcare keynote speaker would tell them that there is nothing further from the truth.
The time in hospice is a perfect time to find new ways to fuel the body, to do whatever exercise is possible, and to do whatever they can to improve their rest.
It’s astonishing what a pursuit of vitality can do to improve quality of life even in deep illness.
No one can promise that a change of diet and lifestyle in hospice care will change the prognosis or add years to a patient’s life, although such things do happen when a consistent change of habits is made that transforms the patient’s health for the better even when all seemed hopeless.
But even if the progression toward end of life continues, it is better to approach it with good rest, a comfortable body, and as clear a mind as possible.
In this way, hospice is not a surrender or a loss.
Instead it can be the signal to take what is left of life, to hold it as something precious and nurture it as best we can.
And if you engaged in conversation with wellness keynote speakers about the possibilities of reversing chronic and even terminal conditions, you will be surprised by the fervor with which they state that the body is an amazing system that can do miraculous things if you give it the right inputs and a fighting chance.
If you are curious about the amazing possibilities of bringing hope to hospice, I would encourage you to reach out to a healthcare keynote speaker. Discuss your concerns about logistics, dig into what is possible when faced with severe dietary restrictions or disability that seems to preclude all exercise.
Finding a way to incorporate vitality into a patient’s life–even up to the last moments–will be repaid with an end of life experience that surpasses what most people think is possible. Let a healthcare keynote speaker inspire your view of hospice care today.
